Amir Haleem | How Helium’s Crypto Infrastructure Is Quietly Replacing Mobile Networks

On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Amir Haleem, CEO and co-founder of Helium. Helium has a decentralized wireless network powered by community-run hotspots that supports IoT devices and mobile coverage. Today, its WiFi network boasts over 93,500 hotspots across the U.S. and Mexico, and the network serves around 1 million daily users. Helium has also secured major partnerships with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Telefónica.They discuss how Amir and Napster’s Shawn Fanning co-founded Helium in 2013, transforming it into a people-powered connectivity model that now rivals traditional telcos in prepaid signups. Amir explains the economics behind hotspot mining and how the Helium Mobile network offloads carrier data with a 555% increase in offloaded traffic last quarter. You’ll also hear why Helium chose to hide the crypto in consumer-facing products, and how its Zero Plan, a free phone plan in the U.S., is built on top of their infrastructure and attracting thousands of new users every day.TIMESTAMPS:You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you like the show, please let us know by leaving a review!Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141Follow us on X:  Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokensFollow us on InstagramTalking Tokens: https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/Note that this podcast is for informational purposes only and any views shared by anyone on the show are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this episode.