Multicoin Capital Blog

Scams aren't limited to cryptocurrency. There are actual businesses that are providing the real-world utility with the assistance of cryptocurrency. Take, for example, Helium Network. Helium has scaled the most ubiquitous IoT network on Earth with a revolutionary business model that incentivizes users to set up IoT hotspots and soon other wireless protocols like 5G, Wi-Fi 6, VPN, and more, with cryptocurrency incentivization and a Proof-of-Coverage mechanism. This new business model to scale infrastructure is here to stay.

https://explorer.helium.com/

https://about.dish.com/2021-10-26-DISH-Partners-with-Helium-to-Leverage-the-Helium-Networks-Blockchain-Model-using-CBRS-Spectrum

https://blog.helium.com/san-jos%C3%A9-first-city-to-launch-initiative-on-the-peoples-network-to-bridge-the-digital-divide-5849ac8a8be7

https://senetco.com/about/news/senet-and-helium-announce-lorawan-network-integration-partnership/

https://blog.helium.com/helium-chapter-2-a-network-of-networks-7372262210bd

You can believe it or not. But businesses like Helium are positioned for success and sustainability and are here to stay.

Edit: Hacker News is telling me I'm posting too fast. Here are some more resources:

https://www.helium.com/enterprise

https://www.helium.com/chapter2

https://multicoin.capital/2021/03/17/the-helium-flywheel/

http://whitepaper.helium.com/

Here are some excellent resources if you want to learn more about the network, its future goals, and its economic model. The white…

> I suppose the only drawback here is that they're issued from a centralized authority.

That's only true for this type of "vouchers" stablecoins, where coins are redeemable for some physical asset.

There are whole other classes of stablecoins that seek to achieve price stability through decentralized means, either using other cryptocurrencies as collateral[1], or using algorithmic bond-issuance mechanisms[2]. Multicoin did an in-depth article about this back in January[3].

>Despite this, no one on Twitter seemed excited. [...] A cryptocurrency that stays the same value is not very interesting to traders and therefore most of the cryptocurrency community.

That's the thing, the "cryptocurrency community" is currently overwhelmingly comprised of loud investors and ICO marketers. The way smaller and discreet nucleus of researchers, developers and idealists, you don't see replying to Coinbase tweets and hanging out in Reddit.

There's no mainstream usecase for cryptocurrencies as they are now, so the "enthusiastic users" community you see in more established fields doesn't really exist yet.

[1] https://vimeo.com/247715549

[2] https://www.basis.io/basis_whitepaper_en.pdf

[3] https://multicoin.capital/2018/01/17/an-overview-of-stablecoins/

> You will need to figure out how to keep the value stable on a day-to-day and year-to-year basis.

This is a difficult problem that's being tackled by multiple projects, such as MakerDAO[1] (DAI) and Bitshares[2] (BTS). Also less reputable implementations like Tether[3] (USDT).

A good article for more detail is An Overview Of Stablecoins[4]

[1] https://makerdao.com/

[2] https://bitshares.org/

[3] https://tether.to/

[4] https://multicoin.capital/2018/01/17/an-overview-of-stablecoins/