Utah Authorities Find Suspicious Crypto-Linked Antennas in Mountains

Authorities in Salt Lake City have been trying to solve the mystery

of a series of solar-powered antennas that have been popping up in the city's foothills for about a year.

Around a year ago, the first devices were discovered. There were only a couple of them at the time, but a dozen have since been discovered and disabled. As per reports, the devices consist of a secured battery box, a solar panel, and an antenna.

No one knows who keeps planting them or why, so for the time being, anyone can do is speculate and try to dismantle them because they are planted on public land without a permit.

Utah is a landlocked state in the Western US Mountain West subregion. In May 2022, Utah's governor signed a bill establishing the Blockchain and Digital Innovation Task Force, which will oversee all blockchain activities in the state and make policy recommendations on the blockchain.

Mystery Behind Crypto-Linked Antennas

Tyler Fonarow, Salt Lake City's recreational trails manager, told local media outlets that when the antennas were discovered a year ago, "we didn't really have the bandwidth to check into it or remove them."

According to Fonarow, the antennas had no identifying signs and were bolted into the stone, requiring special tools to remove them. "We didn't even open the box," he admitted. "All we wanted was to get it off the hill."

Fonarow speculated that the devices could be part of a decentralized wireless networking platform. He said, 

"It might be linked to cryptocurrency and relaying networks and making money from that, so that's another reason we want to remove it now before it becomes a dumping ground for dozens and dozens of more antennas."

Last week, a Salt Lake City Public Lands Facebook page released photos of "unauthorized solar panel towers" discovered in the Foothills.

Some Facebook users believed that the devices could be part of the Helium network. If the speculation is true, these mystery antennas could be hotspots for a wireless blockchain-based Helium network. This whole new incentive model enables users to build up hotspots that operate as Helium miners and feed data to devices. People can make money simply by purchasing and plugging in a hotspot.

Helium is a cryptocurrency that builds a long-range, wide-area network using antennas. Helium uses proof-of-coverage instead of proof-of-work to distribute token rewards. The larger the network, the more Helium you can mine. Helium mining necessitates the kind of antenna depicted in photos of the devices recovered by Salt Lake City officials.

There is no evidence that the devices discovered by officials are Helium hotspots, but speculation is that they are. So, for the time being, the planter remains unidentified, but officials are looking into the matter. To stay up to date regarding the matter, register yourself at CoinGabbar.

What do you think, are the antennas actually linked to cryptocurrency or blockchain technology, or is someone simply blaming the developments on blockchain technology? Please share your valuable thoughts in the comment section below.