2024

Helium

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 <p class="paragraph">Over two years ago, a discovery of mysterious antennas, consisting of a locked battery box, a router, and a solar panel, in the mountains of the Salt Lake City area has left the Utah authorities baffled over their origin, and today, there is still no official answer as to who was behind them.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">Specifically, Salt Lake’s recreational trails manager Tyler Fonarow said in January 2023 that the <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="antenna" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/antenna.html">antenna</a>s, which many believe have something to do with mining <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="crypto" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crypto.html">crypto</a>currencies, had been popping up for a year before, leading city officials to set out to remove them, as Finbold reported at the time.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">As placing structures on public lands without permission is illegal, and some of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="antenna" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/antenna.html">antenna</a>s were on steep hills, the authorities had embarked on removing them, with Salt Lake City Public Lands sharing the photos on its Facebook profile and urging anyone with information to come forward.</p>
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 <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="801" height="800" src="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/30d23de5cb418c2d012d312d08514e45.webp" alt="Facebook post on mysterious antennas in Utah. Source: Salt Lake City Public Lands" class="wp-image-178124" srcset="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/30d23de5cb418c2d012d312d08514e45.webp 801w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/30d23de5cb418c2d012d312d08514e45.webp 300w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/30d23de5cb418c2d012d312d08514e45.webp 150w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/30d23de5cb418c2d012d312d08514e45.webp 768w" sizes="(max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px">
  <figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Facebook post on mysterious <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="antenna" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/antenna.html">antenna</a>s in Utah. Source: Salt Lake City Public Lands</em>
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 <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-helium-hotspots">Helium hotspots?</h2>
 <p class="paragraph">According to one theory, these <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="antenna" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/antenna.html">antenna</a>s belong to the wireless blockchain platform Helium and potentially serve as hotspots for its customers so they can mine the network’s native token, HNT, and earn money, which would mean that those individuals were the ones setting them up after purchase.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">Moreover, many social media users have corroborated the theory that these devices are, indeed, Helium crypto miner antennas, based on the photographs and close-ups shared by local news outlet KSL 5 TV’s Michael Locklear in a tweet (now X post) on January 6, 2023.</p>
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    <p lang="en" dir="ltr">And here's a close-up of the antenna retrieved on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/UctwgtI7DM</p>— Michael Locklear (@MichaelLocklear) January 6, 2023
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 <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-similarities-to-helium-hotspots">Similarities to Helium hotspots</h2>
 <p class="paragraph">In fact, upon closer inspection, the setups on the photographs look much like the Helium mining equipment available for purchase in online marketplaces like eBay, such as the Helium Rak Miner Antenna bundle, or directly from their manufacturers.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
 <p class="paragraph">On top of that, in March 2021, much before the publicized discovery, the owner of the website/blog <em>Gristle King – A Guide to DePIN, </em>only known as ‘Nik,’ shared a photograph of what appears to be him standing next to an antenna for a Helium hotspot as he explained which product was the best to buy.</p>
 <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="800" height="467" src="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/6c148c722d9a1372dbb2da69805b2ba8.webp" alt="Man standing next to Helium hotspot antenna. Source: Gristle King" class="wp-image-178126" srcset="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/6c148c722d9a1372dbb2da69805b2ba8.webp 800w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/6c148c722d9a1372dbb2da69805b2ba8.webp 300w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/6c148c722d9a1372dbb2da69805b2ba8.webp 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px">
  <figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Man standing next to Helium hotspot antenna. Source: </em><em>Gristle King</em>
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 <p class="paragraph">Additionally, the images posted by technology product reviews and tutorials website <em>notsealed.com </em>in November 2021, which describe how to make a DIY solar off-grid Helium miner, strikingly resemble the mysterious devices found in the mountains of Utah, so the Helium theory is valid.</p>
 <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="513" src="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/b516f386c3df1a9efb8cd3622baa6652.webp" alt="DIY solar off-grid Helium miners. Source: notsealed.com" class="wp-image-178127" srcset="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/b516f386c3df1a9efb8cd3622baa6652.webp 800w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/b516f386c3df1a9efb8cd3622baa6652.webp 300w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/05/24/b516f386c3df1a9efb8cd3622baa6652.webp 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px">
  <figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>DIY solar off-grid Helium miners. Source: </em><em>notsealed.com</em>
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 <p class="paragraph">Furthermore, information security expert William Knowles acknowledged at the time that the devices looked like Helium miners but that “whoever is placing them is spending more on infrastructure than they could ever dream of making today,” as HNT had “been on a major slide even before FTX and 3AC happened.”</p>
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   <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
    <p lang="en" dir="ltr">While it looks like Helium Miners, whoever is placing them is spending more on infrastructure than they could ever dream of making today.<br><br>Helium as a cryptocurrency asset has been on a major slide even before FTX and 3AC cratered.https://t.co/OT8yj7R7FG</p>— William Knowles (@c4i) January 6, 2023
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 <p class="paragraph">That said, so far, there has been no official communication or explanation coming from either Helium or Utah authorities (or any other government bodies, for that matter) regarding the true origin of the mysterious crypto-linked antennas popping up across the mountainous region of Salt Lake City.</p>
 <p class="paragraph"><em>Featured image via Michael Locklear </em><em>X profile</em></p>
</div>
<p>Source: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://thebittimes.com/2024-update-utah-s-crypto-antenna-mystery-remains-unsolved-tbt89578.html">https://thebittimes.com/2024-update-utah-s-crypto-antenna-mystery-remains-unsolved-tbt89578.html</a></p>

2024 update: Utah’s crypto antenna mystery remains unsolved

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