Helium, the blockchain platform that rewards cryptocurrencies to power decentralized wireless networks, is facing a pivotal change as it prepares to move from its own blockchain to Solana’s blockchain.
Helium’s developers believe that possible approval of this proposal to enable the network’s transition to Solana’s blockchain will improve its speed, stability and ability to serve even more users.
“Solana offers significant benefits to Helium such as increased scalability, an even larger community and the ability to synthesize,” the post from The Helium Foundation states, which adds: “This change will be significant in scope, impact and benefit for the Helium network and its users.”
According to the proposal, the Helium network will move all of its coins – HNT, IOT, MOBILE and DC (Data Credits) – from its own blockchain to Solana. In addition, it will rely on oracles or third-party data sources not on the blockchain to manage Helium’s proof of coverage infrastructure and data transfer accounting function.
“The Helium community will gain a thriving developer ecosystem with the addition of thousands of developers around the world working on applications that are only possible on Solana because of its fast and cheap transactions,” the proposal states.
What Helium does
Helium is a distributed wireless network that offers users cryptocurrency as rewards for sharing their home internet service with a larger community. For example, a user can run a Helium node (or hotspot) connected to their modem or router and then earn cryptocurrency by securing the network and allowing nearby devices to share their connection.
The platform originally launched with a network designed for Internet devices and has so far attracted more than 935,000 active node operators, according to current data. In addition, Helium recently released a 5G network built for phones, tablets and other devices, which has about 3,300 internet nodes currently.
The next shots
The Helium Foundation and the Nova Labs -a startup consisting of the network’s founders and some key developers- recently announced plans to adopt a “network of networks” approach and expand beyond the original HNT reward currency. With IOT, MOBILE and other future currencies, Helium aims to incorporate a wider range of decentralized wireless protocols.
The logic of the proposal
In the post informing about the proposal to move Helium to Solana, the developers of Helium point out that when they first started the network, there were few Level-1 blockchain platforms and it was a very logical decision to create their own. However, as the network has grown, they believe it also makes sense to move to an open source platform like Solana, which can handle a large number of transactions.
“With the maturity that has occurred on Helium, the same has happened in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. There are, now, a myriad of Level-1 options to exploit. Rather than spending time and effort improving Helium’s Level-1 blockchain, it became clear that the Helium community could benefit from developments and shared resources from the larger industry.”
Even more HNT in miners or operators
Also, according to the proposal, an even larger share of HNT reward coins will flow to node operators or miners after the transition to Solana, with a 6.85% increase over the current model. The proposal claims that the redistribution will push more than 2 million additional HNT to miners in the first year or more than $11.1 million under the current price.
The vote
The Helium Foundation will hold a community vote on this proposal. The vote begins on September 12 and ends on September 18. No timetable for the planned migration has yet been revealed, if of course the proposal passes.
The… confusion
However, Helium was recently thrown into question when cloud software giant, Salesforce and startup, Lime, made it clear that they were not connected to the wireless network, despite the fact that it had announced their partnership on its website.
Following this event, Helium noted that it would adopt a “more rigorous” process for determining formal partnerships.
Along the same lines were the statements of Helium co-founder Amir Haleem, who said that the network’s developers had “verbal approvals” from the companies that challenged the partnerships and assured that he would establish a more formal approach to securing marketing approvals.
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