1. Project introduction

Helium is a global, distributed network of Hotspots that create public, long-range wireless coverage for LoRaWAN-enabled IoT devices. The blockchain runs on a new consensus protocol, called the Helium Consensus Protocol, and a new kind of proof, called Proof-of-Coverage.

The Miners who are providing wireless network coverage in a cryptographically verified physical location and time submit proofs to the Helium network, and the Miners submitting the best proofs are elected to an asynchronous byzantine fault tolerant consensus group at a fixed epoch. The members of the consensus group receive encrypted transactions submitted by other Miners and forms them into blocks at an extremely high transaction rate. In addition to the blockchain protocol, the Helium Wireless protocol, WHIP, provides a bi-directional data transfer system between wireless Devices and the Internet via a network of independent providers that does not rely on a single coordinator, where:

(1) Devices pay to send & receive data to the Internet and geolocate themselves,

(2) Miners earn tokens for providing network coverage, and

(3) Miners earn fees from transactions, and for validating the integrity of the Helium network.

2. Investment institution

Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z)

3. Application

The Helium Token HNT is the native cryptocurrency and protocol token of the Helium blockchain. The Helium Token is designed to serve the needs of the two primary parties in the Helium blockchain ecosystem:

(1) Hotspot Hosts and Network Operators. Hosts mine HNT while deploying and maintaining network coverage.

(2) Enterprises and developers using the Helium Network to connect devices and build IoT applications.