> The Helium Network, also known as “The People’s Network”,
...and add the fact that LoRa and LoRaWAN is corporate-controlled and patented. This is all astroturfing.
Do we really need yet another proprietary radio standard?
> “proof-of-coverage” transactions earn Hotspot owners HNT cryptocurrency
Yikes.
the helium network viability is that using the network doesn't burden the consumers with the cryptocurrency's fluctuations in price or necessarily dealing with it at all. Consumers are able to use Data Credits which have a fixed price, creating data credits (DC) destroys the HNT token - of which the consumer or their future ISP will have to buy/acquire Helium tokens to do. So it creates a decent incentive for providers to build and expand the network (to earn HNT) and also a demand side as consumers (or their ISPs) to buy and destroy helium to create DC.
The antenna/routers do not use much energy and instead rely on a geographic distance which determines if they earn more or less HNT based on the coverage they are providing to the network.