Website | Whitepaper | Twitter | Facebook | Android App
There are people who have dedicated their lives to milking faucets or chasing airdrops in the hopes of getting rich someday. Anyone would tell you that is a whole lot of hard work for very little earnings.
Let's face it, most of the cryptocurrencies that have popped up in the past few years have failed to live up to their hype and many have been outright abandoned. Only a rare few have achieved success and respectability but none have yet reached Bitcoin's vaunted heights.
No, this is not a post about the next big thing or the get rich quick scheme. It's just an introductory post about Nodle's latest app which allows users to earn a passive income through their mobile phones.
For those not familiar with the company, Nodle is an eco-friendly connectivity network provider for the Internet of Things (IoT) and was founded in 2017 by Micha Benoliel and Garrett Kinsman.
The Nodle Network provides internet connectivity to IoT devices through a crowdsourced network of smartphones powered by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) acting as hotspots for anonymous data transfer. According to Nodle's website, BLE is 33x more efficient than WIFI since it consumes approximately 3% of the power required to transfer the same amount of data.
Businesses will be able to utilise the Nodle Network to accurately track as well as obtain location and usage data of IoT devices. Nodle currently names Constellation Brands, the City of Paris, Cisco Meraki and Chipolo in their list of clients.
So where does cryptocurrency come in?
In 2018, Nodle raised USD1.5 million seed funding to launch a new cryptocurrency for monetising IoT connections, applications and data on their network. Originally termed NODL coins, this was subsequently rebranded as NODL Cash to match their mobile app, Nodle Cash.
NODL Cash is an asset on the Stellar blockchain with a total supply of 2.1 billion and can be used to buy and sell IoT connectivity and services on the Nodle Network. The asset utilises a Proof-of-Connection (POC) protocol and can be 'mined' by downloading the Nodle Cash app and keeping your smartphone connected to the network. The app was previously only available on the HTC Exodus 1 but was released in the Google Play store for all Android phones last month.
Running the app allows smartphones to pick up signals containing information from IoT devices. The amount of NODL Cash earned for each signal depends on how valuable the information is. As mentioned earlier in this post, this is not a get rich quick scheme. NODL Cash comes in 7 decimals and the amount earned per signal falls firmly in the satoshi range. This is at best a free flowing faucet.
But at least it is free. Or is it?
Technically, it is not. The app utilises your smartphone's mobile data, Bluetooth connection, and GPS location. As an eco-friendly network, Nodle claims that the app's impact to your smartphone's mobile data (additional 20-30MB) and battery (1%) is minimal.
Aside from monetary considerations, there is also the privacy aspect. Geolocation is absolutely essential to the services provided by Nodle hence the app will be tracking your movement via your smartphone's GPS signal. For some people, this is an invasion of privacy for which no form of remuneration can make up for. To learn more about the type of information Nodle will be collecting and storing through their app, you can check out their Privacy & Terms.
According to their whitepaper, Nodle does not collect phone numbers, names, contacts, pictures or any personally identifiable information from Edge Nodes (smartphones running their app). To help keep users anonymous, Edge Nodes are assigned a random identifier (RID) which is periodically changed. This feature supposedly makes it impossible to reconstruct an Edge Node's geolocation history.
At the end of the day, would I invest in NODL Cash?
Done right, the potential of the Nodle Network would likely be limitless. This bodes well for NODL Cash and gives it a huge advantage and a leg up on many of the other cryptocurrencies currently available which are little more than a hope and a dream. Some are not even that. While NODL Cash can be purchased with Stellar, I believe it is still too early to think about investing but that is not the point of the post.
Is it worth "mining" NODL Cash?
If you can get past the privacy issues and concerns, why not? It does not require specialised or exorbitantly priced equipment. Nearly everyone has a smartphone these days and the app is free for download. Furthermore, no active participation is needed. Download the app, let it run, and voila! You get NODL Cash! Simple as.
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