Beyond tokens. Staking physical assets in DAOs.

If we can stake a $500 piece of hardware, our talent, our location, or any asset of value that can be pooled for positive-sum returns, we have a new economy.

Becoming a hotspot operator in the Helium decentralized wireless network appeals to a wide range of folks for many different reasons, but we're all equally invested in its long-term success.

I'm excited to have the opportunity of using my wireless networking skills to create a long-term passive income stream. The upfront capital required for passive income generation is typically in the tens of thousands, with Helium you can start like I did, with a $500 hotspot.

Because I view my ongoing investment in hotspots as long-term, that requires an honest evaluation of the project's current state, and I see some issues arising that existing incentives are failing to address. It's not that the incentives are bad, there's just some real-world friction at play.

These issues are well understood by the community, and raised daily on the Helium Discord, but they are very difficult to address as individual Helium hotspot operators.

I've put hotspots at my own apartment and my folks' place, I don't know where to put the three arriving in 2 months time.

I am excited to be a part of the network but it's 9 month wait for a hotspot, I have the perfect location to start mining today.

I'm excited to be a Helium 5G operator and my pre-order is available, but I've heard that installing it at home isn't the best option. How do I get a business like a cafe to host it for me?

Most hotspot operators are not full-time businesses and don't have the resources to address these issues themselves. Companies have started that help solve the problem, and there is definitely a place for what they do. Is corporate centralization the only answer to issues we're experiencing while building a decentralized network though?

Farmers, when faced with similar challenges from larger, capital rich competitors, pool resources in co-ops while maintaining the independence of their own business.

As Helium operators, our product is wireless connectivity rather than milk, but I am convinced that, using decentralized collaboration and positive-sum goals, we can overcome these issues together in a similar fashion.

The broad idea is to use DAOs as an organizational tool, and extend the staking model beyond tokens to create hosting 'pools' consisting of staked hotspot hardware, hosting locations, and professional services.

The Helium network incentivizes hotspot operators to install their hardware in optimal locations. Maximizing mining rewards requires all three of these elements, making it relatively easy to assign value to each in a staked mining pool.

Example;

Pool DTW-1 targets Detroit, Wayne County, with 1200 tokens in the pool.

Staking 1 hotspot = 1 token

Staking 1 location = 1 token

Staking 1 'MSP' installation & support** = 1 token

Monthly earnings from the hotspots in the pool would be sent to a shared wallet and distributed amongst the token holders via smart contract.

**Over at the Pirate Radio discord we're discussing how the main DAO could be the 'MSP'. Coordinating the operational requirements via local captains, leaving the pool to operate as an independent 'ship' in the fleet. If you're interested please come and join the conversation at Pirate Radio Discord.  

A scalable model like this means we could have mining pools springing up across the globe, supercharging growth, and optimizing the network for long-term positive-sum gains for all. Exciting times!

The crew at Pirate Radio are going to see if we can make it work, we'll keep sharing progress as we explore these new, uncharted waters.

Note: No, the pirate puns won't be stopping.