News that Helium, which operates one of the largest networks based on the LoRaWAN low power WAN protocol, has started rolling out in Europe after extending to over 1,000 cities in North America, provides a good chance to assess the value and impact of its underlying blockchain technology on the IoT more widely. This comes at a time when blockchain has been enveloped in fake news concerning its possible contribution to future pandemic tracking in the light of the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus crisis. Blockchain advocates have been prone to oversell its benefits, especially the idea that it could have nipped Covid-19 in the bud and stopped global transmission in its tracks. Laughable claims aside, this is not to say blockchain…