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“This crypto-backed incentive model really made sense in this situation,” Mr. Mong said.
Thus, the company demolished the old business model and settled on a new one. Instead of creating its network itself, Helium would make it completely decentralized and allow users to build it themselves by purchasing and connecting their own hotspots. Participants will be paid with crypto tokens and they will vote on proposed ideas for changes in the network. If the price of these tokens rises, they make even more money and set up more hotspots.
The new model, released in 2019, worked like a charm. Crypto fans competed to set up Helium hotspots and start generating crypto tokens. On Reddit and YouTube, they traded tips to increase the range of their hotspots by attaching them to tall buildings or putting antennas on their roofs. Some hotspot owners allegation Earning thousands of dollars a month this way, although earnings have dwindled as more hotspots were added to the network.
I learned that this is one of crypto’s superpowers – the ability to launch projects by providing an incentive to enter the ground floor. Not everything can be improved by tying yourself to a cryptocurrency mining scheme. But in Helium’s case, crypto made sense as a way to encourage participation and give hotspot owners the satisfaction of building something they owned.
The network’s decentralization is its biggest selling point, said Arman Dezfuli-Arjomandi, a computer programmer who hosts a podcast about Helium in Philadelphia.
“If this network is built on a centralized platform, there is always a chance that the platform will be IPOs or they will be acquired, and all this physical infrastructure built by a bunch of people all of a sudden, no matter what company owns it,” he said. .
I can find a lot to like about helium. Unlike many crypto projects, it is a real product that is used every day by natural people and companies. The people involved in this are not faceless speculators, and most of them seem genuinely interested in creating a decentralized wireless network. (The rule of thumb with Helium’s 140,000-member Discord chat server is that you’re not allowed to discuss coin prices.) And it will become more useful in the coming months as new kinds of 5G hotspots make it possible to send data. at higher speeds over the network.
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