[jimmySixDOF]

The one thing I like about them is the mapping of Proof of Work onto a thing of value in the real world. I think it's a pretty strange thing of value to have selected and there are better behaviors out there to encourage.

I know someone they interviewed for a job last year and he said they were cashed up with years of runway but I also know they have a very bad rep in the LoRa equipment vendor space based on conversations although moved on to the LTE CBRS innovation band from what I can tell.

[vvanders]

Last I looked into it they locked down the supported hardware pretty aggressively and I could never trace a clear line on how the "proof of coverage" was validated. The physical aspects of radio transmission that are unforgeable are a bit hard to do without dedicated hardware and large distances(ex: time of flight for GPS).

The RF nerd in me thinks it could be interesting but the skeptic makes me wonder how forgeable coverage would be and if the overhead of coverage challenges uses more of the limited spectrum than carrying actual data.

[r1ch]

It's kind of a joke, the entire thing is relying on the locked down hardware as it contains the keys that generate coins. You can set up your own mini network that only sees / validates your own nodes and get rewarded. The solution they came up with is a CSV of "bad" nodes. No joke.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helium/denylist/main/denyl...

Helium has been paraded around as a successful use of blockchain when it's highly centralized and has no actual customers.