This talk by Noah Prince, Head of Protocol Engineering at Helium, was recorded at DePIN Day Singapore — part of the global conference series dedicated to Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks.
Hosted by Fluence, DePIN Day brings together founders, developers, investors and ecosystem leaders to explore how crypto-incentivized infrastructure is transforming the real world.
Watch to discover the latest innovations, real-world use cases, and emerging trends shaping the future of decentralized infrastructure.
From IoT Origins to Mobile Network Growth
Helium began by addressing a critical gap in IoT connectivity: there was no global, low-cost, low-power network. Using LoRaWAN technology and crypto incentives, Helium built a decentralized network of over 400,000 hotspots across 170+ countries, enabling use cases like package tracking, agriculture sensors, and more.
Recognizing similar infrastructure inefficiencies in 5G deployment, Helium expanded into mobile connectivity. Helium Mobile now offers $20/month unlimited data plans in the U.S. and serves as an offload network for major telecoms. Through token incentives and open participation, Helium radically reduces the cost and barrier to entry for deploying wireless infrastructure.
Decentralization Isn’t Free: Lessons from Scaling
Helium’s journey is a case study in the tradeoffs of decentralization. Initially, the blockchain ran directly on Raspberry Pi-powered hotspots—a novel, but ultimately unscalable approach. Over time, the network transitioned to validators and finally to the Solana blockchain.
However, this migration introduced compromises: data processing and reward calculation were moved off-chain to centralized Oracles due to scale limitations. With hundreds of thousands of hotspots generating 15-20K events/second, even high-throughput chains like Solana couldn’t handle the volume on-chain.
Governance at Scale: Feedback from the Community
Helium v3 is a governance challenge. When Helium proposed removing token supply caps and adding fixed emissions to incentivize node operators, the community pushed back.
The feedback:
- Keep the max supply cap. Users value predictable, deflationary economics.
- Simplify the token system. Three subnet tokens (IoT, Mobile, Energy) confused users and fragmented utility.
- Don’t decentralize everything. Surprisingly, many users opposed decentralizing the Oracle pipeline, preferring centralized rewards logic for simplicity and reliability.
The Real Priority: Users Over Infrastructure One of the most important insights from the talk: users don’t care about decentralization for its own sake. Helium’s community wants results — coverage, affordability, and functionality.
Noah Prince emphasized that building endless infrastructure without real use cases leads to confusion and bloat. Instead, decentralization should happen gradually, in lockstep with actual user needs. For Helium, this means scaling user adoption (like mobile subscribers) comes first, and decentralization of specific components (like data ingest) comes second.
Helium’s Multi-Network Vision: IoT, Mobile, and Energy
Helium is expanding its model beyond IoT and mobile into energy infrastructure. The new proposed subnetwork, Energy (token: $SOURCE), would coordinate excess solar output and battery supply to help power grids balance production and consumption. It’s a bold step toward making Helium a decentralized utility platform.
However, the complexity of managing multiple tokens and incentive systems is leading to proposals for returning to a single-token model, streamlining governance and user experience.
What This Means for DePIN Founders
Noah’s key takeaway for DePIN builders: real traction starts with user value, not protocols. Focus on solving tangible problems (like mobile costs or IoT access), then gradually decentralize infrastructure to meet those needs more robustly.
Helium’s evolution shows the DePIN movement must remain grounded in usability, demand, and feedback-driven iteration. Full decentralization is a goal.
Building Decentralized Networks with Real-World Relevance
Helium’s roadmap is a philosophy shift. The network is re-aligning with its original mission: empowering everyday people to participate in building wireless infrastructure. By prioritizing users, simplifying economic models, and decentralizing pragmatically, Helium offers a playbook for DePIN projects seeking real-world adoption.
As Prince put it, “We fix the scaling problems when we hit them.” That iterative, user-first mindset is exactly what the decentralized infrastructure world needs.
