What is Pollen Mobile, and how does it try to replace wireless phone carriers?

Welcome to the cryptohunt jam where we spend one minute a day explaining crypto. In plain English.

Two episodes ago we talked about Helium, which tries to create an alternative wireless data network for internet connected devices.

Today, let's talk about Pollen, a project that is quite similar, but tries to replace the actual wireless phone carriers. Don’t confuse that with Pollen DeFi, which we covered last time!

Pollen Mobile creates network coverage through so-called flowers. Those are essentially 5G antennas that connect to your home or office internet. When someone uses your flower, you get rewarded in Pollen tokens.

And the connection couldn't be easier: Simply add or replace the SIM card in your existing phone with their "Hummingbird" SIM, and you are ready to use Pollen Mobile.

But to verify that these flowers are working well, the project has a trick up its sleeve: So called Bumblebees. Those are small devices that community volunteers use to measure signal strength and speed of the 5G "flowers" out there.

Using blockchains and tokens has a few advantages according to the company: Lower costs, because you don't have to pay for overhead like marketing and executive compensation. You might also get coverage, where traditional cell phone companies don't - simply because they decide the location is too expensive, but volunteers can easily set up antennas.

And there you have it: Blockchains might do more in the future than just move money around… They may end up replacing Verizon and AT&T.

Disclaimer: This podcast references our opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Do your own research and seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.