How Helium’s Crypto Infra Is Quietly Replacing Mobile Networks

Welcome back to Talking Tokens.

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The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️

For the Thursday Talking Tokens episode, I sat down with Amir Haleem, CEO and co-founder of Helium.

Helium has a decentralized wireless network powered by community-run hotspots that supports IoT devices and mobile coverage. Today, its WiFi network boasts over 93,500 hotspots across the U.S. and Mexico, and the network serves around 1 million daily users. Helium has secured major partnerships with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Telefónica.

We discuss how Amir and Napster’s Shawn Fanning co-founded Helium in 2013, transforming it into a people-powered connectivity model that now rivals traditional telcos in prepaid signups. Amir explains the economics behind hotspot mining and how the Helium Mobile network offloads carrier data with a 555% increase in offloaded traffic last quarter. You’ll also hear why Helium chose to hide the crypto in consumer-facing products, and how its Zero Plan, a free phone plan in the U.S., is built on top of their infrastructure and attracting thousands of new users every day.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
1:26 Amir and his co-founder’s journey: Napster to Helium
5:48 Why telecom is broken and ripe for disruption
8:59 How Helium grew to 1M+ users
12:11 AT&T and T-Mobile partnerships explained
15:19 The new economics of hotspot mining
18:06 Who runs hotspots and why crypto stays hidden
22:18 Its free 'Zero Plan' outpacing big 3 mobile carriers
25:05 DeWi versus utility and carrier offload
36:05 Expansion with Telefonica in Mexico
42:20 Final advice from Amir

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Money and people moves

The biggest updates regarding new hires or teams that raised capital, moved money or did a little bit of both.

1. Stripe is acquiring crypto wallet infrastructure provider Privy, which powers over 50 million accounts

2. Ryan Wyatt departs position as head of growth at Optimism, moving into an advisor role

3. Sandeep Nailwal, one of Polygon’s co-founders, is now Polygon Foundation’s CEO

4. Sedall Asante joined Aptos Labs as a product marketing lead to spearhead its GTM strategy for its products

5. Invesco Hires JPMorgan Veteran to Lead Its $1.6 Billion Crypto ETF Business (Decrypt)

Talking points for the road

Crypto-focused headlines or research that caught my eye…and should catch yours, too.

1. Pump.Fun’s $1 Billion Token Sale Raises Liquidity Concerns for Memecoin Universe (Bloomberg)

2. Tokenized money market funds could be the next ‘killer app’ (Blockworks)

3. Circle’s IPO underscores need for a diversified crypto portfolio, says Bitwise CIO (The Block)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.