Helium, which describes itself as a decentralized network of Internet of things (IoT) devices, came under scrutiny after it mentioned that its technology is used by Salesforce and Lime among 14 other different companies.
The cloud-based software firm and the e-scooter rental giant, however, denied working together. Helium’s founder Amir Haleem has now issued a clarification regarding the entire fiasco. All the companies that use Helium can be viewed on-chain but the firm itself does not always have the knowledge when users stop using the network.
The exec said Helium had worked with companies both big and small and a lot of these engagements are pilots and trials. While a few of them transform into bigger applications, others don’t.
As a company, Helium does not have any commercial relationships with entities using the network. Instead, Hallem highlighted that they “evangelize the network” to them and help them develop applications. It is due to this reason, the founder said, that they do not have perfect visibility into “when sensors are on/off, or trials starting/stopped.”
He went on to add,
“Some of the users on the network we know about and some we don’t, that’s the nature of having a permissionless network that anyone can use. all of the usage is visible on-chain, but not who or what. we also don’t always know when users stop using the network. We had verbal approvals with the teams we worked with to publicize and highlight these engagements.”
The founder said the team had worked with non-profit Helium Foundation to update the ecosystem page and reflect only those companies that are active and have written approvals, adding that “verbal approvals” are simply not good enough.
Under the header that reads – “HELIUM IS USED BY” – on the company’s official website, earlier had 14 logos. Following Lime and Salesforce’s statements, the logos of the two companies were removed.
The status of Helium’s partnership with Lime was in limbo after its senior director of communications Russell revealed that beyond an initial test of its product in 2019, “Lime has not had, and does not currently have, a relationship with Helium.”
On the other hand, a representative for cloud software giant Salesforce also confirmed that it had no partnership with Helium even as its logo was featured on the company’s website.