There’s gold in them thar hills.

It’s a favorite expression of mine made famous by Yosemite Sam in the Looney Tunes cartoons.

Apparently miners on the Helium Network know as well that there’s gold in the mountains outside of Salt Lake City , Utah. Miners know that antenna placement is critical to maximizing earnings on the network and a mountaintop outside a densely populated area with many other Helium miners is prime real estate. Unfortunately for these miners their rigs which were placed on public lands without permission or permits are being seized.

As first reported by KSLTV 5 in Utah, people first began noticing the antennas a year ago. They’re simple machines made up of a LoRa fiberglass antenna, a locked battery pack, and a solar panel to power it. The Salt Lake City public lands department has been pulling them down as they find them, and told KSLTV that there have been as many as a dozen.

Based on the composition of the antennas, there is speculation that they belong to a decentralized blockchain network.

Specifically, it’s suspected that the antennas are a possible hotspot connecting to the Helium network. Notably, Helium is a wireless blockchain-based system with an incentive business model that enables customers to establish hotspots that act as Helium miners while offering internet connectivity.

Officials say they have spotted about a dozen of the devices scattered in the area. One antenna array was even set up at the summit of Mount Wire, which is more than 7,000 feet high.

“These towers have been bolted into different peaks and summits and ridges around the foothills,” said city trails manager Tyler Fonarow in an interview with local KSLTV. “It started with one or two, and now it might be as much as a dozen.”

If it is in fact Helium miners that are being strategically placed illegally on the public land outside the city there is a fairly significant upfront cost to building an off grid miner that can easily exceed $1500–$2000 dollars not to mention the effort involved to get 60 pounds of gear to a mountaintop.

A year ago the Helium Network native token HNT was trading at $35. Today the HNT token trades at $2.75. With the upfront capital and the energy expended to place these rigs illegally it appears what the guilty party found was fools gold.

Thanks for reading !