In a recent article, Forbes magazine takes a close look at Helium’s recent initial coin offering (ICO) and claims that a small group of insiders “made their fortunes” while the vast majority of investors lost money. funds. The article is based on an analysis of public addresses of Helium ICO participants and claims that over 80% of tokens were purchased by just 1,000 addresses.
What should you know about Helium?
Helium is a powered platform by blockchain technology which allows users to build their own decentralized network. The platform’s native token, HNT, is used to reward users for participating in the network and providing data services.
The recent expansion of the USDC stablecoin across five additional blockchain networks will now make it easier for Helium users to access stablecoin liquidity.
What does the Forbes investigation reveal about Helium?
The article claims that the founders sold nearly $25 million worth of HNT tokens shortly after the mainnet launched, as the token traded at its highest.
The article also claims that the founders have not sold any HNT tokens since then, although the price of the token has fallen over 90%.
As a result, the founders are said to have made a profit of over $200 million, while the majority of HNT holders are incurring losses.
The article goes on to say that the Helium team has not responded to questions regarding the token sale and has not yet released an audit of its token holdings.
This raised concerns that the team might be hoarding tokens, giving it an unfair advantage when staking blocks through Helium’s proof-of-coverage consensus algorithm.
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One of the wallets is linked to the Helium CEO’s home in California
Crypto news on the Forbes report indicates that one of the wallets in question is linked to the wife of Helium CEO Amir Haleem.
According to the report, five hotspots, which mined 250,000 HNT in the first three months of the project, may be linked to the wallet linked to the couple’s California home.
Forbes wrote that the wallet would have earned 455,000 HNT from mining rewards, which is worth $25 million at the maximum price of HNT, and $2 million today.
Haleem disagrees that the project failed, and believes the blockchain network is ahead of its time and just getting started.
The blockchain project has continued to grow, with the community recently approving a proposed migration to Solana.
Forbes said its report is based on leaked internal documents, transaction data, and interviews with former blockchain employees.
Although the Forbes article offers a detailed and well-researched analysis of the Helium ICO, it should be noted that the Foundation has yet to respond to the allegations made in the article.
Until she does, we can’t know for sure if these allegations are true or not.
However, if they are, it would certainly be a disappointing turn for those who have invested in the project hoping make a difference in the cryptocurrency market, and more broadly in the world of decentralized finance.
