Recently I pre ordered two Rak miners v2 for the Helium hotspot network. With GPU and ASIC prices currently through the roof and in most cases out of stock, I started looking for an alternative to increase my mining footprint without breaking the bank. I ended up stumbling upon Helium Hotspot and after a few days researching the network and possible profitability I was sold.
Helium is a decentralized peer to peer network which uses radio signals to transfer data to and from the internet for low power IoT devices. This includes sensors and monitors which need to transfer small amounts of data. Miners receive rewards when their hotspot is used to transfer data. There are other ways to earn rewards as a miner including through PoC (Proof of Coverage) challenges. This includes initiating challenges, participating in challenges and witnessing challenges. Also another way to earn rewards is by joining a consensus group.
Above is a screenshot of a urban hotspot miner connected to two other miners in Boston.
How much HNT you can earn will be dependent on your miner location and how many other miners are within range for your miner to witness or participate in challenges. In most cases an urban setting will provide more rewards, but even 1 miner all alone can be profitable just not optimal. You can also increase the range of the miner by installing an antenna.
To check your potential earnings ability in your area I recommend checking out the Helium Explorer which allows you to take a look at what each hotspot's rewards have been over the last 24 hours as well as 30 days. One thing I noticed using the explorer was the growth in earnings the miners received when connected to multiple other hotspots. https://explorer.helium.com/
For this reason I decided to grab 2 hotspots and plan to expand my personal network if everything works according to plan. With HNT currently sitting around the $17 range, it is potentially a game changer or at least an alternative to GPU and ASIC mining. I have a link below for the Rak miner v2 which I purchased, but you can also check out the helium website for other models and distributors.
https://rakwireless.kckb.st/d7ecd919
https://www.helium.com/mine
https://intercom.help/heliumnetwork/en/articles/3160459-helium-network-faq
https://Hotspotrf.com another useful tool for mapping out your miner placement.
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice and I'm not a financial advisor.
