The Helium blockchain will be developed based on Ethereum's protocol with an added new feature called Plasma Cash that will improve scalability by reducing the size of data stored on-chain. This layer between Ethereum and individual dapps will enable Helium to have a higher throughput, lower fees and better decentralization.
HELIUM is providing the tools for developers to create an incentivized platform that enables machine economics which in turn will increase global machine use cases, i.e., machine to machine payments, data storage/sharing, etc.. These smart devices are essentially creating their own economy with every transaction performed between them.
The network will operate via distributed ledger technologies commonly known as Blockchain technology. The decentralized applications (dapps) built on the Helium blockchain are what make it special. They build upon blockchain technology where all transactions happen peer-to-peer without any 3rd party involved yet still store data securely using end-to-end encryption.
HELIUM will provide a decentralized, encrypted and incentivized mesh network where any machine can connect to the Internet through its peers in order to buy/sell bandwidth, data storage or share sensors. We believe the future of the internet is a peer-to-peer decentralized web that is free from corporate interests and surveillance while respecting user privacy.
HELIUM (HNT) enables developers build dapps on top of Helium's Blockchain Layer for connectivity, payments, Machine Autonomy & Rewards Program powered by Plasma Cash for scalability & better decentralization with zero transaction fees. The underlying blockchain will be built using Ethereum technology in which case security tokens representing digital ownership in Helium utilities will be available for trading on the securities exchanges.
The question remains, what can you do with HELIUM (HNT)? The answer is: anything and everything. You can use it to pay for goods and services that would be relevant for things like IOT devices such as sensors and smart hardware. Also, machines will be able to exchange money via their own digital identities through decentralized exchanges where they can purchase/sell resources such as storage or bandwidth which could further enable distributed economies of scale. Alternatively, you could keep HNT in your wallet and wait for it to appreciate in value- just like any other cryptocurrency once machine autonomy kicks in! For example, machine payments will drive HNT demand so if you hold some HNT, expect more demand in the future.
The use cases for HELIUM (HNT) are ever-expanding, however, the primary focus will be to create tools that allow developers to easily build incentivized machine networks that would enable true distributed economies of scale.
