Last Updated on September 20, 2024 by Ben
Best Places to Buy Helium
Helium is a blockchain-based system that works to allow the transfer of data between devices. What’s really amazing about Helium is it allows IoT devices to communicate with other networks, so they can be monetized through validated data transfers. What does this mean for you? Well, if you’re an independent or company looking to make money by using your Internet connection, then Helium offers opportunities for rewards!
Everything You Need to Know
The Helium (HNT) network is a decentralized blockchain-powered IoT device network.
The Helium mainnet, which went live in July 2019, lets low-powered wireless devices transmit with each other and communicate data across its network of nodes.
Nodes are called Hotspots, which include a wireless gateway and computing device that mine cryptocurrencies. Users who operate these machines can earn HNT tokens in their wallets when they help with the blockchain process.
Helium’s goal is to prepare for the future of IoT communication. They identify problems in current infrastructure as it started in 2013.
Who Are The Founders Of Helium?
Three people started a company in 2013 called Helium. They are called Amir Haleem, Shawn Fanning, and Sean Carey.
Haleem has experience with gaming and eSports. In contrast, Fanning is well-known for creating Napster, a popular music sharing service that was one of the first major peer-to-peer (P2P) internet services in the late 1990s.
Carey worked in marketing for a number of years before Helium, most recently as an associate director at Where, which PayPal purchased.
The team at Helium has grown to include individuals with expertise in “radio and hardware, manufacturing, distributed systems, peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies,” according to the firm.
Helium (HNT) Token
The Helium Token (HNT) is a cryptocurrency and protocol token of the blockchain designed to be mined by hosts in The People’s Network. Hotspot network operators mine when they join while providing coverage for this decentralized internet infrastructure.
Developers and enterprises use HNT to pay for their network usage. They may either buy Data Credits with a credit card or burn the HNT they mined in order to acquire them.
How Does Helium Work?
The Helium network uses a novel work method called Proof of Coverage (PoC), and miners who use radio waves to prove that hotspots are truly providing wireless coverage to devices are rewarded in HNT — Helium coins similarly to ETH.
The Helium operating system is based on the same principles as Ethereum, using graphics cards to process cryptographic hash codes that validate transactions. Wireless hotspots are interrogated with radio waves to ensure they aren’t cheating customers by claiming to provide a certain service.
Radio-Frequency and Proof of Coverage
There are many different types of radio waves. Proof of Coverage uses properties to make sure that people can prove they were at a hotspot.
- Radiofrequency travels at the speed of light, which means it has no latency.
- Radiofrequency can only travel so far.
- The strength of an RF signal can be used to determine its distance of origin.
The three qualities listed above are critical for Proof of Coverage to function properly since they enable the blockchain to constantly check if hotspots are operational via a “Challenge.”
Proof of Coverage Challenges
A problem is the unit of work that must be done in order to comply with the PoC protocol. The challenger, transmitter, and witness are three roles involved in challenges. Each role has a distinct purpose in validating the information transmitted by a hotspot.
- Challenger: The hotspot that generated the challenge is the challenger. This happens every 200 blocks or so.
- Transmitter: The transmitter is the target being challenged. It’s in charge of transmitting (sometimes called “beaconing”) the data packets that deal with the challenge.
- Witness: Witnesses are placed near the transmitter that may confirm that the transmitter is sending challenge packets as it should.
At any moment, one of your hotspots may be performing any of these tasks, and each is rewarded HNT by the network. As a result, running a Helium miner in a window with prior Helium network activity will outweigh an area without coverage.
Helium Pros and Cons
Pros
The Helium network is expanding, and the price of its crypto is on a general ascending trend. Since it’s a peer-to-peer network, anyone who gets a Helium hotspot has the potential to earn Helium crypto.
- Easy to set up
- Works automatically
- Earns you cryptocurrency
Cons
Because the Helium network is so popular and new production has slowed, it may take weeks or even months to receive a hotspot after purchase. Also, if there are not many hotspots in your region, your earnings will be lower.
- Doesn’t do anything extra in your home
- Variable earnings
- Expensive to get started
What Makes Helium Unique?
The goal of Helium is to enhance the capabilities of wireless Internet of Things (IoT) devices. While there was still a lot of work to do in 2013 when it came to IoT infrastructure, developers wanted to include decentralization in their product, hence calling it “The People’s Network” in the official documentation.
The platform’s main attraction will be to gadget owners and people interested in the IoT industry, with financial incentives providing additional outreach avenues.
Participants in a network buy Hotspots, which are a wireless gateway and miner or construct their own. Each hotspot provides network coverage over a certain radius and mines Helium’s native token, HNT.
The network is based on proof-of-coverage, a novel consensus mechanism developed on the HoneyBadger BFT protocol that allows nodes in a network to come to an agreement when connection quality varies widely.
Users who want to use HNT pay transaction costs in a different cryptocurrency called Data Credits, which are not tradeable and linked to their individual accounts.
Where to Buy Helium (HNT)?
By October 2020, the HNT token will be tradeable on many exchanges. The USD and stable coins Tether (USDT) are among the most popular combinations on Binance and FTX.
HNT is ranked 63 out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies on Coinmarketcap and has an exchange price of $23.83.
Unlike other primary cryptocurrencies, HNXT has been traded on a variety of crypto exchanges, and it cannot be purchased with fiat currency. However, you can still easily acquire this coin by first acquiring Bitcoin on any fiat-to-crypto exchanges and then moving it to the exchange that trades HNT. We’ll walk you through each step of the process in this guide article.
Is Helium a Good Investment?
Although Helium isn’t for cautious investors, it may provide excellent returns if the cryptocurrency market cap continues to go up in the long term. The demand for a decentralized IoT wireless network is expected to rise as technology and humanity become increasingly linked.
Alternatives
Bitcoin
Star Rating
Bitcoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency that exists without any central authority or bank supervision. Instead, it relies on peer-to-peer applications and cryptography.
The public ledger records all bitcoin transactions, and copies are held on servers around the world. Anyone with a spare computer can set up one of these servers, known as a node. Consensus on who owns which coins is reached cryptographically across these nodes rather than relying on a central source of trust like banks do for fiat currency.
Bitcoin was designed as a means for individuals to transfer money online. The digital currency was developed to provide a competing payment system that would function independently of government control but would be treated similarly to fiat currencies.
Pros
- Potential for high returns
- Diversification, Greater Liquidity
- Immediate Settlement, International Transactions
Cons
- Unregulated and unbacked, Cyber hacking
- High volatility and potential for large losses
Ethereum
Star Rating
The Ethereum platform is an open software environment that lets users create a variety of decentralized applications.
The virtual currency used on the Ethereum network is called ‘Ether.’ Like Bitcoin, Ether works via a public blockchain network. However, while Bitcoin tracks ownership of currency, the Ethereum blockchain focuses on running programming code for any decentralized application.
Applications that use Ethereum’s smart contracts, which are essentially computer codes that automatically execute when certain conditions are met, include crowdfunded charity projects and insurance programs. Both bitcoin and Ethereum operate outside the purview of central authorities such as banks and governments.
Ehtereum makes it possible for developers to collect money for their applications. They can create a contract and solicit pledges from the wider community.
Pros
- Well-known Founder And An Expanding Developer Community
- Ethereum Continues To Attract More Businesses
- Ether Is Not Capped
Cons
- Ethereum Struggles With Scaling
- Ethereum Uses A Complicated Programming Language
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Solana
Star Rating
Anatoly Yakovenko launched the Solana (SOL) platform in 2017. Anatoly Yakovenko previously worked at Qualcomm and now works at Solana. He has extensive knowledge of data compression techniques after his earlier work as a software developer for Dropbox. Eric Williams, Solana’s CTO, and Greg Fitzgerald created a new way to deal with traditional throughput problems in the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains.
They wanted to make a new way for computers to talk to each other. It would work without people trusting one another. They are backed by big companies that have lots of experience, including Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Dropbox. Many investors have taken note of Solana, including Multicoin Capital, Foundation Capital, SLOW Capital, CMCC Global, Abstract Ventures, and others.
Pros
- Low gas costs
- resistant to censorship
- ETH interoperable
- delegated staking
Cons
- Still in Beta
- No clear roadmap yet
- Little Transparency
Conclusion
Blockchain technology was once a niche concept that few people understood, but it has become an integral part of the world’s economy. The Helium network is one example of how blockchain can be used for IoT devices to provide security and privacy.
As with any investment, it is important to do your own research before investing in HNT tokens or other cryptocurrencies on platforms like Coinbase or Binance because prices can fluctuate wildly when you buy into these currencies depending on the market conditions at the time.