Getting Started: Who Pays for This?

“Who pays for this?”

Here is a simple example:

Acme Pet Tags makes a line of PetFinder tags, which sell at the local Target for $49.99.  This allows you to goto www.petfinder.com and see exactly where your dog, Fluffy, is at all times.  

As Fluffy walks past (or in range) of a Helium Hotspot, the tag on Fluffy’s collar and the Helium hotspot exchange a bit of information, which is sent back up to the PetFinder website, with Fluffy’s last location.

In order to utilize the network, Acme Pet Tag has to spend Data Credits, which they buy using HNT which they need to purchase on a crypto exchange.

In order for Helium to maintain the network, they have to pay out HNT to all the people on the network who have Helium Hotspots active.  Those HotSpot owners then can sell their HNT on the crypto exchange to the the people who need to purchase them in order to get Data Credits (like Acme Pet Tags).

HNT and Data Credits video from Helium.com

“Why did Helium set it up like that?  Why not just allow the use of credit card or cash transactions?”

Part of that answer is simply...because they choose to.  They could have setup their economy in a number of different ways.  They choose this one.  In part this avoids all issues with credit card and bank processing fees, for both Helium and its customers.  It also allows them to have a single global marketplace without having to worry about variances in local currencies.  

Maybe the actual biggest factor is that they don’t have to build out the actual infrastructure.  They did not have invest in any expensive radio towers, or rent space on cellular towers.  They can let a variety of manufacturers build devices that support and utilize the Helium blockchain and network.