- Helium CEO Amir Haleem has attempted to clarify the “upsetting” claims over the protocol’s partnerships
- Lime and Salesforce both distanced themselves from partnerships with Helium, despite their logos being used by Helium
- Haleem said this was down to trials having ended in 2019 and the page not being updated
Helium’s CEO Amir Haleem has responded to the “upsetting” claims made by critics over the company’s partnerships, after two companies denied they were working with the project. The issue flared up at the end of July when the logos of scooter company Lime and tech giant Salesforce disappeared from the “Helium is used by” page, following statements from both companies saying that no such partnerships were in place. This led to ridicule of Helium, which Haleem attempted to set straight yesterday by putting it down to expired trials.
Salesforce and Lime Logos Erroneously Used
Helium was one of the most talked about crypto projects when it launched back in 2019. The project promised much with its decentralised IoT approach, so much that companies such as Lime and Salesforce dipped their toes in for a trial to see what it was all about. When the trials ended they never went back for more, assuming any association with Helium was done and dusted.
Not so, Helium. The company still had Salesforce and Lime among the 14 logos on its partnerships page, something that Mashable spotted last month and enquired about with the companies concerned. Indeed, both Salesforce and Lime denied having extant partnerships with Helium, acknowledging the trials they had undertaken many moons ago but saying they had no current deals in place. The day after the Mashable report, Helium took the logos down.
Haleem Says Trials Are to Blame
This wasn’t a great look for Helium, with critics accusing them of faking partnerships for clout, forcing Haleem to take to Twitter yesterday to clarify the situation:
a lot of discussion floating around about @helium and various companies that have used the network over the years. I wanted to clear a few things up. it’s been frustrating and upsetting to read some of this stuff
— amir.hnt (🎈,🫡) (@amirhaleem) August 1, 2022
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Haleem called the accusations “frustrating and upsetting”, saying that trials come and go and that they “don’t always know when users stop using the network”.
Haleem added that the Helium team will “update the ecosystem page to only reflect companies that we think are active and with written approvals, and we’ll work to keep it current going forward.”
It’s pretty simple, actually. Here’s a handy guide:
- Only put a partner logo up when they sign a full, legit partnership deal with you
- Keep those details on a spreadsheet and make a calendar entry for when the deal expires
- If the company lets the deal lapse, take their logo down
There, fixed!
