A new era of decentralized wireless networks begins – Cryptopolitan

by Arthur · April 20, 2023

After over a year of planning and development, Helium has migrated to Solana, ushering in a new phase of reliability and scalability for decentralized wireless networks. This upgrade establishes a new era of scalability, extensibility and reliability for the world’s largest decentralized wireless network. The following article provides an overview of the Helium Network, the reasons for migrating to the Solana blockchain, and the benefits of the upgrade.

Table of Contents

Overview of the Helium network

Helium Network was launched in 2019 with the task of delivering a decentralized, open source, accessible and secure wireless network for the entire world. The foundation of the network was its own blockchain to encourage the use and expansion of a community-built wireless network. Helium is now the largest LoRaWAN network in the world, with nearly one million Hotspots deployed since launch and coverage in more than 77,000 towns and cities in 192 countries. The Helium 5G network is also experiencing rapid growth, with the community deploying more than 8,000 5G radios in less than a year.

Reasons to Migrate to Solana Blockchain

However, to continue scaling, the Helium community decided last year that a new architecture would be necessary for the L1 blockchain. Core developers spent a disproportionate amount of time maintaining the Helium blockchain as two fundamental elements of the network – proof of coverage and reliable data transfer activity – became challenging for the blockchain to handle. The Helium community decided and successfully voted on a proposal to upgrade the network by migrating to the Solana blockchain, to address these challenges and set Helium up for long-term success.

Advantages of the upgrade

Adding smart contract functionality to the Helium network unlocks the enormous potential for more programmatic features and tools. The Solana blockchain offers new smart contract capabilities that bring more benefit to the network, including faster transaction speeds. This means that the Helium Network can introduce dynamic markets to better distribute rewards based on regional demand. It is economically inefficient to price data transmission in New York City the same way as in rural Indonesia, where there is far less concentration of hotspots.

Forget $0.35 transaction fees on Helium Blockchain. On Solana, the average transaction fee is $0.00025. This means that Helium Network users can enjoy lower costs and faster transaction speeds, making it more accessible and efficient for everyone.

Solana has a very fluid and diverse DeFi ecosystem. Owners of HNT, IOT or MOBILE tokens can access multiple markets and provide liquidity in exchange for rewards on platforms such as Orca or Kamino. The open source Helium Wallet app will also have direct access to DeFi. This means that Helium Network users can take advantage of the liquidity and opportunities offered by the DeFi ecosystem, bringing more utility and value to owners of HNT, IOT and MOBILE tokens.

Conclusion

The migration of the Helium Network to the Solana blockchain marks a significant milestone in the development of decentralized wireless networks. The upgrade brings several benefits to network users and the community, including faster transaction speeds, new smart contract capabilities, lower costs, access to DeFi and more. As the world’s largest LoRaWAN network, Helium is poised to continue its rapid growth and expansion, bringing new applications that create economic efficiency and close the digital divide. The Helium Foundation and other contributing organizations can now direct more resources toward their shared goal of accelerating the growth of decentralized wireless networks.