Synopsis
- Developers proposed the move in pursuit to get a better uptime of transactions.
- The foundation of Helium is backing the migration proposal laid by Helium developers.
- The migration would bring major protocol-linked changes to the original Helium (HNT) blockchain.
An overview: Helium is a grid of wireless hotspot networks built to decentralize wireless internet solutions. Developers of the Helium network have collectively proposed to migrate the Helium blockchain to Solana in quest of enhancing the uptime, and transaction speed of the network. The network takes approximately 60 to 70 seconds to propose a block. Solana’s transaction per second is 2700.
The Helium foundation published an article on Medium citing the changes that the proposal for migrating Helium would bring efficiency to the network. The Helium network alias HIP- 70 switching to Solana will bring addresses network speed, reliability, and scalability,” according to the foundation.
The full story of Helium foundation’s take on the proposal
According to the article posted by Helium foundation, the members had spent “countless hours keeping up unprecedented growth” and “proof-of-coverage activity” and “reliable data transfer activity” has been a challenge for the users. The foundation is in support of the proposal and is in talks with Nova Labs – the firm that made the Helium blockchain.
Nova Labs went through a funding round for Helium and raised $ 200 million in March 2022.
Next steps?
A Discord call has been scheduled for discussing the migration proposal with the members of Helium. As per the blog, the voting for the migration proposal call starts on September 12, 2022 and will conclude on September 18.
Migrating HNT Tokens
The developers of HNT proposed shifting of all tokens native to the blockchain. The tokens – HNT, DC, IOT and MOBILE will likely be moved to Solana if the proposal is given a green signal. A move like this will help the project scale on Solana. The project has garnered another 1 million hotspots in recent months. According to the developers, if the migration does take place the native tokens will be brought on Solana Saga Smartphone.
Helium’s consensus mechanism was said to be unable to handle network traffic, which prompted developers to propose network migration.
Helium developers have proposed HIP 70, which would move PoC and Data Transfer Account to Oracles. This simplifies Helium’s blockchain needs, improving scalability, speed, and reliability. It also allows for more rewards for miners and a move to Solana. 👀 https://t.co/ZFSWmwYn8f pic.twitter.com/ztnahzGAet
— Helium Foundation🎈 (@HeliumFndn) August 30, 2022
Helium’s hotspot technology
Helium has developed a unique algorithm called the Proof of Coverage that identifies and verifies if the users offering hotspots are truly representing the location they are at.
Hotspot technology allows anyone to operate a wireless network for IoT devices and longfi
Hotspots enable anyone to own and operate a wireless network for low-power Internet of Things (IoT) devices while providing coverage for Helium for HNT rewards. PoC is complex and has been a challenge for the users, as said by HNT developers. The network congestion on Helium has made transferring of data packets difficult.
Additional Read: Top Cryptos this Week
What happens to Proof of Coverage (PoC)?
Developers have proposed to discard PoC as the consensus algorithm as a transitionary move from its native blockchain to Solana blockchain. This indicates that the network has not been able to take the incoming traffic from network applications.
Scrapping the use of PoC would help make the Helium network “become much simpler,” developers said.
Wrapping up
Solana is a layer 1 blockchain and itself has faced issues with downtime. According to the Helium developers Solana being a layer 1 focuses on speed and scalability which is exactly what Helium lacks.
The proposal comes just a few months after Helium raised $ 200 million in series D funding led by eminent venture capitals’ – Tiger Global and FTX Ventures, Multicoin Capital and a16z. Interestingly these firms have invested in the Solana blockchain.
Additional Read: Solana Whitepaper Summary
Source: CoinDesk