San Francisco-based Helium launched a new wireless communication standard today that it is calling "LongFi." It has 200x the range of WiFi and operates at 1/1000th the cost of a cellar modem. It is perfectly suited to IoT (Internet of Things) devices, such as the electric scooters that are proliferating across our cities. Helium's goal is to build out the "world's first peer-to-peer wireless network."
What's potentially very exciting about this technology is that it represents decentralized network infrastructure. Anyone can install a Helium Hotspot in their home (to grow the network). And if you do that, you'll be rewarded with tokens, which, in theory, will have some value going forward. Another way to think of a Helium Hotspot is as "the equivalent of bitcoin mining for network infrastructure."
Put yet another way, it's a new kind of wireless protocol and an entirely new business model -- which is often how startups end up beating entrenched incumbents. Here is a short description from Union Square Ventures (an investor in the company) on how the Helium network will work:
Hotspots, the backbone of the Helium network, can be deployed by anyone, anywhere, simply by plugging into an existing router. The Helium network will be assembled, over time, by a broad community of volunteers, civic organizations, commercial partners, and ideally a new class of entrepreneurs building out connectivity in new cities and towns.
Economic activity in the Helium network is coordinated through a new type of blockchain that uses “proof of coverage” (proving that a Hotspot is actually located in physical space) to secure the network and incentivize deployment where it is needed most. We believe that the Helium network has the potential to become one of the most decentralized blockchain networks in existence, due to physical location as the underpinning of the economic and security model.
This is a good example of the potential of the blockchain technology. We are still waiting for mainstream consumer applications to be built on top of it, but many people within the industry believe we're only a few years out from that. I'm going to try out a Helium Hotspot as soon as they're available in Toronto.
Images: Helium
I was at a Proptech dinner earlier this week (graciously hosted by Venturon) and I was introduced to the International Blockchain Real Estate Association (also known as IBREA). I feel like I should have known about this group. They have over 5,000 members and host an annual summit focused on blockchain + real estate.
They have several videos from this year’s summit up on their website – everything from blockchain for titles to the tokenization of real estate assets. There are also a number of industry working groups that have been set up, which bring companies together around specific problems and ambitions (such as, creating a universal property identifier).
To get you started, here is Blockchain Real Estate 101. If you can’t see the video below, click here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcLOcWyfHk&w=560&h=315]
Chris Dixon’s recent piece on why decentralization matters is currently making the rounds online. It clearly explains the first two eras of the internet and how the third era is developing as we speak. Cue decentralized cryptonetworks.
I particularly like how he describes the relationship that centralized platforms – like Facebook – have to their users and to their complements (other businesses, software developers, creators, and so on).
Here are two graphs from his article:
In the early days it’s all about cooperation and doing everything you can to attract users. The platform gets more valuable the more users are on it and so the immediate goal is to build up the network effects and lock people in.
But as the platform grows, the relationship flips (top of the S-curve). In Dixon’s words, it becomes a zero-sum game whereby to continue growing the platform starts extracting data from its users and competing with its complements.
The promise of cryptonetworks is that they will do away with many of these negative externalities, but at the same time empower the kind of sophistication that we see today with centralized platforms.
The venture capitalists are circling because a fundamental shift in the architecture of the internet will mean disruption. I’m following it because I want to understand how it may apply to real estate and the built environment.
San Francisco-based Helium launched a new wireless communication standard today that it is calling "LongFi." It has 200x the range of WiFi and operates at 1/1000th the cost of a cellar modem. It is perfectly suited to IoT (Internet of Things) devices, such as the electric scooters that are proliferating across our cities. Helium's goal is to build out the "world's first peer-to-peer wireless network."
What's potentially very exciting about this technology is that it represents decentralized network infrastructure. Anyone can install a Helium Hotspot in their home (to grow the network). And if you do that, you'll be rewarded with tokens, which, in theory, will have some value going forward. Another way to think of a Helium Hotspot is as "the equivalent of bitcoin mining for network infrastructure."
Put yet another way, it's a new kind of wireless protocol and an entirely new business model -- which is often how startups end up beating entrenched incumbents. Here is a short description from Union Square Ventures (an investor in the company) on how the Helium network will work:
Hotspots, the backbone of the Helium network, can be deployed by anyone, anywhere, simply by plugging into an existing router. The Helium network will be assembled, over time, by a broad community of volunteers, civic organizations, commercial partners, and ideally a new class of entrepreneurs building out connectivity in new cities and towns.
Economic activity in the Helium network is coordinated through a new type of blockchain that uses “proof of coverage” (proving that a Hotspot is actually located in physical space) to secure the network and incentivize deployment where it is needed most. We believe that the Helium network has the potential to become one of the most decentralized blockchain networks in existence, due to physical location as the underpinning of the economic and security model.
This is a good example of the potential of the blockchain technology. We are still waiting for mainstream consumer applications to be built on top of it, but many people within the industry believe we're only a few years out from that. I'm going to try out a Helium Hotspot as soon as they're available in Toronto.
Images: Helium
I was at a Proptech dinner earlier this week (graciously hosted by Venturon) and I was introduced to the International Blockchain Real Estate Association (also known as IBREA). I feel like I should have known about this group. They have over 5,000 members and host an annual summit focused on blockchain + real estate.
They have several videos from this year’s summit up on their website – everything from blockchain for titles to the tokenization of real estate assets. There are also a number of industry working groups that have been set up, which bring companies together around specific problems and ambitions (such as, creating a universal property identifier).
To get you started, here is Blockchain Real Estate 101. If you can’t see the video below, click here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcLOcWyfHk&w=560&h=315]
Chris Dixon’s recent piece on why decentralization matters is currently making the rounds online. It clearly explains the first two eras of the internet and how the third era is developing as we speak. Cue decentralized cryptonetworks.
I particularly like how he describes the relationship that centralized platforms – like Facebook – have to their users and to their complements (other businesses, software developers, creators, and so on).
Here are two graphs from his article:
In the early days it’s all about cooperation and doing everything you can to attract users. The platform gets more valuable the more users are on it and so the immediate goal is to build up the network effects and lock people in.
But as the platform grows, the relationship flips (top of the S-curve). In Dixon’s words, it becomes a zero-sum game whereby to continue growing the platform starts extracting data from its users and competing with its complements.
The promise of cryptonetworks is that they will do away with many of these negative externalities, but at the same time empower the kind of sophistication that we see today with centralized platforms.
The venture capitalists are circling because a fundamental shift in the architecture of the internet will mean disruption. I’m following it because I want to understand how it may apply to real estate and the built environment.
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