Helium, a great opportunity for investment
As of April 2021, the market capitalization of the digital currencies asset class amounted to approximately $2.208 trillion. Of the 9,231 coins, fewer than 100 have market capitalizations above the $1 billion level. Bitcoin is the leading coin with a market cap of over $1.175 trillion, topping the asset class list. Ethereum is the only other currency with a total value of more than $85 billion. As of mid-April, ethereum's market capitalization stood at the $280 billion level. Only the top 17 have valuations of more than $10 billion. Market capitalizations of more than $5 billion are only found in 32 cryptocurrencies.
Looking for a digital currency that performs like bitcoin, which went from 6 cents to over $65,000, is like buying a lottery coupon. For sizeable digital currency investors, capital appreciation depends on survival. As the market matures, the most vital coins are the most likely to survive and flourish in the coming months and years. However, the more they rise in parabolic moves, the greater the chances of a brutal correction. Gravity can be a powerful force in markets that grow too high.
Helium is a blockchain and cryptocurrency project focused on improving supply logistics in the construction and infrastructure sector. To achieve this, it focuses on community-centered research. Its network of users brings it help to build its second-tier network.
Helium wants existing problems in large-scale infrastructure projects to be solved through blockchain technology qualities such as transparency and trust. Helium also hopes to incorporate smart contracts, Internet of Things (IoT) and enterprise applications into its network.
How does Helium work?
LoRaWAN is an LPWA (low power wide area) network protocol designed to wirelessly connect IoT (Internet of Things) devices to the Internet. It is an alternative to cellular technology (Cat-M and NB-IoT). It is gaining traction in commercial IoT applications, such as agricultural and industrial. The LoRa Alliance website is a great reference for more information on LoRaWAN technology.
LoRaWAN has been around for a while, so what's different now and what does Helium bring to the table? According to the Helium website, "Helium is a distributed global network of access points that creates long-range public wireless coverage for LoRaWAN-enabled IoT devices. The access points produce and clear in HNT, the native cryptocurrency of the Helium blockchain."
Let's look at this. One of the main challenges facing LoRaWAN operators is the physical build-out of their public network infrastructure. LoRaWAN operators require capital, which investors will only provide if they see an adequate ROI (return on investment). Network construction also requires time and effort to obtain permits and approvals to locate buildings and street poles access points.
The Helium Blockchain is an open-source public blockchain that was developed to incentivize the creation of a decentralized physical wireless network. Instead of building the network themselves, Helium is paying people in cryptocurrencies to operate LoRaWAN access points. The access point hosts get paid in HNT (Helium Network Tokens). By having people from all over the world build and run their network, Helium has eliminated the growth above pain points. Thus, Helium is a very creative way to use blockchain technology to support a global wireless network. And the business model is working! As of this writing, there are 55,000 hotspots worldwide and increasing at over 1,000 additions per day.
Launched in July 2019, the Helium mainnet Helium allows low-power wireless devices to communicate with each other and send data through its network of nodes.
Nodes come in the form of so-called Hotspots, a combination of a wireless gateway and a blockchain mining device. Therefore, users who operate nodes mine and earn rewards in Helium's native cryptocurrency token, HNT.
Helium's goal is to prepare IoT communication for the future by identifying the inadequacies of the current infrastructure since its inception in 2013.
Who are the founders of Helium?
Helium's three co-founders Amir Haleem, Shawn Fanning, and Sean Carey, started in 2013. Haleem has a background in eSports and game development. On the other hand, Fanning is best known for developing Napster, the music-sharing service that was one of the first traditional peer-to-peer (P2P) internet services in the late 1990s. Carey held several development positions before Helium, including ad optimization firm Where PayPal acquired which.
Helium's team is now made up of members who, according to the company, have expertise in "radio and hardware, manufacturing, distributed systems, peer-to-peer technologies, and blockchain."
How many are Helium (HNT) coins in circulation?
HNT is the native token of the Helium network. Its supply is not limited, but it has an approximately constant issuance of 5 million (5,000,000) HNT per month.
Approximate mining periods of 30-60 minutes unlock rewards distributed according to a changing growth schedule.
Helium explains that, at first, node owners will accumulate more HNT to build network infrastructure, while later, it will be more advantageous to transfer device data. This adjustment mechanism for token distribution is expected to last about 20 years.
As of early October 2020, there are 48,712,218 HNT in circulation. When the token was launched, the supply was zero, with no pre-mining.
How is the Helium network secured?
Helium uses a custom consensus mechanism called proof-of-coverage (PoC) that rewards users for contributing to mining (validating transactions) and ensuring stability.
The PoC is based on the HoneyBadger BFT protocol, designed explicitly for node communication when conditions are unreliable.
Helium says the most likely attack vector affects node operators in the form of incoming ports from Hotspots. In the case of token holders, the platform's wallet uses asymmetric keys to help users secure their private keys.
Where can you buy Helium (HNT)?
HNT is an exchangeable token that is traded by significant exchanges as of October 2020. Major pairs are active on Binance and FTX and include USD and stable coins such as Tether (USDT).
Wallet for HNT
It is essential to keep these assets in a secure digital wallet. To do this, it is necessary to know the existing options and their pros and cons. One option that is always highly recommended is to keep them offline; the further away from the Internet, the safer they will be.
With this feature, there are several alternatives:
On the one hand, hardware wallets are a highly recommended option regardless of the cryptocurrency you own. On the other hand, these devices are the safest ways to store them since both the keys and the cryptocurrencies remain under our custody. Some hardware wallet options are Ledger Nano S or TREZOR.
A paper wallet is another option. It is nothing more than a critical piece of paper that contains both the private and public keys. This option is also very secure. However, you have to be very careful and keep it well guarded so that no one unwanted has access to it and can find it when we need it.
In addition to the options mentioned above, the projects themselves generally make official wallets available to us. For example, the official Helium wallet is currently available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Github.
Below we have included a list of all the mining machines approved by the community and the Manufacturing Oversight Committee of Helium, the entity in charge of governing vendor onboarding.
Compatible with Helium LongFi, a technology architecture that combines LoRaWAN and the Helium Blockchain. Provides wider network coverage, meaning better Proof of Coverage result for increased $HNT earnings. Equipped with industrial-grade Rockchip PX30, a high-performance quad-core application processor. Built-in 64GB eMMC flash for better data security and larger memory storage. Remotely change the miner’s location settings and more without having to send it back to the manufacturer. Uses as little power as a 5W light bulb, which consumes 0.12kWh electricity per day.
Beautifully designed to balance robust engineering in an elegant, window mountable form and with a higher performance 2.6 dBi antenna. The FinestraMiner performs better than legacy Helium miners available today and offers superior thermal regulation with lower radio frequency shielding and better performance in extreme temperatures.
Compatible with Helium LongFi™ technology and Helium Blockchain technology.
Helium-compatible LoRaWAN gateway crafted by industry leading professional Assembled & shipped from Austria | EU. Controllino Hotspot is a LoRaWAN gateway compatible with Helium. Helium enables everyone to contribute to a public, decentralized IoT network and earn HNT rewards by providing coverage and transferring data packets.
HP0C supports the miner feature from Helium and has a built-in ATECC608 encryption chip. It can be used as a Helium Light Hotspot for the project. It also supports Semtech packet forwarder and LoRaWAN Station connection, it is fully compatible with LoRaWAN protocol
FinestraMiner is a best in class full hotspot for the Helium Network that seamlessly mounts right on your window for enhanced coverage and improved performance with fast sync.
- FreedomFi Helium5G | FreedomFi
FreedomFi Gateway is the first omni-protocol miner for the Helium network. It will mine HNT for providing LoRa coverage, but is also expandable with certified CBRS small cells (and later Wi-Fi access points) to earn HNT cryptocurrency by offloading cellular data for carriers like DISH Wireless and GigSky.
- FXTec Linxdot Store - Linxdot
The Linxdot Helium Hotspot provides wireless network coverage for Internet of Things (IoT) devices using Helium Long-Fi. Plug the hub to an ethernet connection and it becomes part of the Helium network, the world’s largest wireless network.
Benefiting from the Helium LongFi technology that maximizes range and battery life without Wi-Fi, cellular, or Bluetooth, the Heltec Indoor Hotspot is introduced to the community. the Heltec Hotspot is completely easy to set up in minutes using only your smart devices. with its efficient power management system, it allows you to build up your LoRa application at a lower cost.
- Hummingbird Product - Hummingbird H500 (xdt.com)
Hummingbird H500 combines the leading wireless technology LoRaWAN and the technical of the LongFi to optimize the range of several miles and the long battery life of IoT devices. Hummingbird H500 is also compatible with other LoRaWAN devices and supports LoRaWAN-enabled IoT devices to create public and remote wireless coverage.
Leading the world in IoT device distribution and deployment, CalChip Connect (CCC) is committed to connecting consumers and industries around the globe with the highest performing solutions and devices available on the market today.
- LongAP LongAP
LongAP Pro is an outdoor IoT-hotspot/gateway that allows you to serve different IoT networks including the Helium Network. It’s designed for professional operation with a durable housing, reliable hardware and extensive management support.
- Milesight loT Milesight IoT - LoRaWAN, 5G & AIoT (milesight-iot.com)
Milesight is a professional IoT company that leverages the top trending technologies to simplify the process of data collection, storage and retrieval in order to accomplish the goal: connecting "things" to the Cloud
MNTD. is a new brand created by RAKwireless (RAK) solely focused on making crypto-hardware accessible to everyday people. RAK is the same company that made the OG hotspots for Helium and has since manufactured the largest number of hotspots deployed to date.
The Nebra hotspot miners come with two options for managing your hotspot remotely. The basic Nebra Hotspot includes built in auto-update functionality (via an auto updater-script) for the life of the device at no extra charge. The advanced Nebra Hotspot plan includes a management dashboard allowing you to remotely manage your fleet of miners, check device stats, hotspot performance and more.
- Pisces/Green Palm Technologies Pisces Gateway (piscesiot.com)
Pisces Outdoor Gateway is a high performance LoRaWAN product that supports Longfi technology. Teherefore it can process a large amount of data on the Helium network.
- Rising HF 瑞兴恒方网络 (risinghf.com)
RHF2S308 is an industrial grade LoRaWAN® gateway series with full duplex support. Embedded with Linux operating system, the main control chip is the powerful ARM Cortex-A53 platform with main frequency up to 1.2GHz. 1x or 2x Semtech high-performance multi-channel LoRa® transceiver SX1301 is installed inside. 2x SX1301 version of the gateway extends the original common 8-channel to support 16-channel, and the node capacity of the gateway will be 4 times of the 8-channel half-duplex gateway. 8-channel half-duplex gateway 4 times.
SenseCAP M1 is a high-performing, ready-to-use LoRaWAN indoor gateway powered by the Helium LongFiTM Network, and provides miles of wireless network coverage and data transmission capacity for LoRa/LoRaWAN devices. It provides built-in BLE, which helps set up the device in a few simple steps, and it supports connecting to the internet via WiFi or Ethernet. SenseCAP M1 has US915/EU868 versions with FCC/CE certificates respectively.
We mine Helium. We have 3 Bobcat 300s and 6 Mntd Rak Miners 3 gold and 3 black. We overpaid for the miners but it is fun trying to optimize them. We will report back on our earnings.