The nonprofit organization that oversees the Helium network, a decentralized wireless internet network built on the blockchain, has named a new CEO amid uncertainty about the future of Helium itself.
Earlier this year Helium Inc., based in San Francisco, split into two parts: the foundation, which acts as the benevolent steward of the network, and Nova Labs, the rebranded name of the for-profit part, which develops business use cases for the network.
The new CEO tapped to head the foundation, Abhay Kumar, previously worked as the chief product officer of Nova Labs. Before Kumar joined the foundation, it was nominally run by COO Scott Sigel.
"This next phase of growth must ensure the Helium Network remains credibly neutral," Kumar wrote in a blogpost. "Helium is and always will be an open-source project enabled by community participation and, with the contributions of the Nova Labs team and several other teams in the ecosystem, we will fulfill the mission of our decentralized wireless network."
The leadership change comes amid turbulent times for the organization. Helium is giving up on its own blockchain and migrating to Solana, another blockchain created by a San Francisco-based company of the same name. Its cryptocurrency token has lost considerable value over the last year, dropping from an all-time high of $52.77 to under $4 currently.
This is problematic because of how the network works. Individuals purchase hotspots for around $500-$1000 that serve as the foundation of the network and get paid in HNT based on how much others connect use the hotspot. When the price of HNT drops, it makes it much harder for hotspot owners to recoup their investments.
Helium has also been accused of failing to attract end users to the wireless network, generating only about $6,500 in revenue in June, according to an analysis made by The Generalist. However, the Helium Inc. CEO Amir Haleem contended in a blog post the network actually produces much more through a complicated array of other fees.
On top of all that, HNT was also partially delisted by Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, meaning that HNT can no longer be traded directly for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and tether, but can still be bought and sold for U.S. dollars.
However, the news is not all bad. Noval Labs recently partnered with T-Mobile to create a 5G mobile network called Helium Mobile.
The Helium Foundation also announced Wednesday that it acquired Strata Protocol, a company that builds protocols for Solana. The foundation intends to use its developer team to help transition the Helium network onto the Solana Blockchain, which it plans to launch January of next year. Strata CEO Noah Prince has been appointed to head of protocol engineering at the foundation.
The Helium project was named as one of our Inno Awards recipients this year for its innovative approach to building a wireless network.
