Certik analysts suspect Helium founders of deceiving project participants

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Certik specialists,working in the field of cybersecurity, the founders of Helium are suspected of receiving illegal profits from the funds of users who invested in the project at an early stage.

As the founders of Helium stated, to participate inproject, users were required to spend about $500 on devices that were Wi-Fi routers that would mine HNT in a passive income scheme. Investors were promised that as soon as the project grew, the profits would be divided among all participants. In a message to potential audiences, the Helium team stated:

"With the support of investors Andreessen Horowitzand Tiger Global, Helium is building a global “people's network”—a wireless Internet connection for things like parking meters and dog collars. All you need is to purchase a special Wi-Fi router for $500, connect an access point to Helium and receive regular passive income in HNT in return. Helium investors will be able to recoup their costs in just a few weeks.”

Helium Chief Operating Officer and ChiefAdvertising specialist Frank Mong wrote on the company's blog that one of the basic principles of the Helium "people's network" is its fairness and the fact that "all users have an equal opportunity to mine crypto assets." 

After pre-paying for the routerWi-Fi delivery times for equipment to connect to Helium could exceed six months. During this time, project participants were awarded a minimum bonus of 1 HNT per quarter. However, according to Certik analysts, almost half of the 3.5 million HNT mined during the first six months after the network launched in 2019 ended up in 30 wallets. These addresses are associated with Helium employees, their friends or relatives, and early investors. 

Review of hundreds of leaked internalDocuments, transaction data and interviews with five former Helium employees suggest that Certik accumulated most of the project's tokens in its earliest and most profitable days, leaving no more than 30% for the rest of the community. According to the Helium blockchain, in August 2019 alone, each registered access point earned an average of 33,000 HNT. Today, each access point earns no more than 2 HNT per month.

In March, the company announced that it had attractedinvestor funds in the amount of $200 million. Helium founder and CEO Amir Haleem said that the funds received will be used to expand the team and create new products. In addition, the company will change its name to Nova Labs. This is to ensure that customers differentiate between Nova Labs, the Helium blockchain and the HNT token.