Helium Contemplates Solana Transition To Improve Scalability

The Helium Network, an Internet of things (IoT) blockchain, is contemplating a move to the Solana blockchain and ditching its own blockchain. 

Helium’s transition to Solana would significantly improve network scalability, bringing significant economies of scale to the network. 

A Higher Level Of Efficiency On Solana 

Developers on Helium are contemplating moving from the project’s blockchain to Solana as they look to achieve higher uptimes, increased interoperability with blockchains, and significantly faster transaction speeds. Core developers associated with the project stated in a post on Medium that the proposal from the project’s core developer team would significantly improve the operational efficiency of the project. 

The Helium Foundation also added that the proposal, officially called HIP 70, addresses key issues with network speed, reliability, and scalability. 

Details Of The HIP 70 Proposal

The proposal to move to Solana comes after core project developers highlighted several technical issues that needed fixing to improve the capabilities of the Helium Network. 

“In the last several months of the network, both have been challenging for network participants with much reduced Proof-of-Coverage activity due to network size and blockchain/validator load, and packet delivery issues.”

According to the Helium GitHub page, the HIP 70 proposal significantly improves data transfer and network coverage abilities. 

“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.”

A New Home For Tokens

The developers also proposed shifting all Helium-based tokens, governance mechanisms, and economics around the platform’s native HNT, DC, IOT, and MOBILE tokens to Solana. According to developers, moving the tokens to the Solana blockchain would help to scale the Helium network, which has grown to over a million hotspots in recent months. 

Currently, the Helium blockchain uses a novel Proof-of-Coverage mechanism that verifies whether hotspots are located where they are claimed and honestly represent their location. However, Proof-of-Coverage has proven to be a highly intensive and complex program and has been quite a challenge for users. Additionally, the increased load on Helium has created several issues with transferring data packets between different users. 

Scrapping Proof-of-Coverage 

Developers have also proposed to remove the Proof-of-Coverage mechanism as the project moves to Solana. This move shows that the mechanisms currently in use on the Helium blockchain are unable to handle network applications, at least in their current form. According to developers, removing Proof-of-Coverage would make the Helium Network much simpler. 

According to developers, because Solana focuses on scalability and speed, adding the network does not adversely impact scalability or security. However, Solana has faced several uptime issues in the past. 

A Positive Reception 

The Helium network has often been criticized for its lack of end-user demand. The criticism followed reports that the network was only generating $6500 per month from data usage revenue, even though the protocol had raised $350 million in funding. Additionally, the network had also faced a four-hour network outage. 

This is why community members reacted positively to HIP 70 and believe that Solana integration will help benefit developers significantly. According to Ryan Bethencourt, partner at Layer One Ventures, the proposal is “huge” for both Helium and Solana and should be approved. Another Twitter user called the potential of Helium and Solana “Simply mind-blowing.”

“Fantastic news from the most incredible network on the planet. Helium and Solana have extremely hard-working, relentless communities and teams behind them from all backgrounds. We are builders and not afraid of change. The combination is simply mind-blowing.”

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.