iHub Global provides no information on its website about who owns or runs the company.
As I write this, iHub Global’s website is little more than a marketing video and affiliate login button.
Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions and Disclaimer links at the bottom of the website are disabled.
iHub Global’s website domain (“ihub.global”) was privately registered on December 3rd, 2020.
Further research reveals iHub Global has an official Vimeo channel. This channel isn’t linked on iHub Global’s website.
Marketing videos on iHub Global’s Vimeo channel are hosted by Chuck Hanson (right).
Hanson refers to iHub Global in the possessive but doesn’t disclose his official position within the company.
Another name I recognized in iHub Global’s marketing presentations was Rick Cotton (aka Richard Cotton).
Cotton (right) first appeared on BehindMLM as the co-founder and CEO of eXfuze.
This was back in 2013. In 2019 eXfuze rebranded as KZ1. By this stage Cotton was no longer CEO but retained a controlling interest in the company.
In response to BehindMLM’s published KZ1 review, Cotton appeared in the comments to discredit our research.
You pretty much missed the mark on 50% of your findings.
At one time I would come to your site and it was reputable but honestly I do not believe that to be the case anymore.
After addressing the points Cotton made with evidence, Cotton only returned to spit the dummy.
In his comments (circa 2019), Cotton claimed he was “still actively involved” in KZ1. Whether that’s still the case is unclear.
In iHub Global Cotton seems to be in charge of creating marketing funnels. As with Chuck Hanson, Cotton’s specific role within the company isn’t disclosed.
The only executive disclosed in iHub Global’s marketing material is COO Randall Pires.
Pires doesn’t have an MLM history but is a co-founder of Emrit. Emrit appears to be iHub Global’s hardware supplier.
Read on for a full review of iHub Global’s MLM opportunity.
iHub Global’s Products
iHub Global has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market iHub Global affiliate membership itself.
iHub Global affiliates are able to purchase Emrit Coolspot Helium Network Token mining devices.
Our CoolSpot allows you to deploy a Long Range Wide Area (LoRaWAN) wireless connection for any LoRaWAN smart device up to 5 miles away. It’s like a hotspot, but cooler.
The general idea is that, in addition to mining HNT tokens, a CoolSpot device provides internet connectivity for Internet of Things devices.
These are typically small devices used as sensors, often providing interconnectivity through mobile apps.
An example provided in iHub Global’s marketing material is a smart dog collar with tracking functionality.
Owners of CoolSpot devices are rewarded with HNT based on connectivity to their hotspot.
The network side of things is handled by Helium Network, creators of HNT. Note however that actual hotspot internet connectivity still requires access traditional internet connection.
iHub Global sell miners to affiliates for $350. Chuck Hanson claims iHub Global isn’t making any money on the sale of miners.
iHub Global’s white labeled Emrit miner contains custom firmware, which allows integration of their MLM opportunity.
RAK Miners sold through iHub Network split every 100 HNT mined or earned as follows:
- 50 HNT is paid to the affiliate
- 30 HNT is paid into iHub Network’s compensation plan
- 20 HNT is kept by iHub Network
Helium Network advertise a RAK Hotspot Miner on their website. Clicking through goes to Cal Chip, who sell a V2 miner for $344.99.
Calchip also sells an iHub Global branded miner for $394.99 (lulwut?).
Emrit also sells miners on their website, which is presumably the same hardware as provided to iHub Global affiliates.
Currently Emrit are giving away their miners for free:
(I’m assuming this is a temporary pricing error… maybe?)
Update 13th March 2021 – Chuck Hansen has written in to advise;
Just to clarify we only have ONE PRODUCT and it is purchased directly from the manufacturer’s website – they charge us an additional $50 provisioning charge to add the software in the unit and the address it will be installed at.
Based on this it seems the $394.99 price CalChip have advertised is the correct price for an iHub Global branded miner. /end update
iHub Global’s Compensation Plan
iHub Global affiliates sign up, either for free or for $99 annually. There is no compensation difference between the two options.
Instead, iHub Global compensation tiers are tied to personal recruitment:
- the first 1 to 5 affiliates recruited are placed in your Pro Team
- the next 6 to 15 affiliates recruited are placed in your Bronze Team
- the next 16 to 25 affiliates recruited are placed in your Silver Team
- every affiliate recruited from 26 is placed in your Gold Team
Commission rates are paid on HNT mined by CoolSpot hardware purchased by recruited affiliates.
- the Pro Team pays 10%
- the Bronze Team pays 15%
- the Silver Team pays 25%
- the Gold Team pays 30%
Note that these are percentages of 30% of the total HNT mined by each recruited affiliate.
Residual Commissions
iHub Global pays residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
Residual commissions are paid out as a coded bonus, allowing affiliates to earn a percentage of HNT mined by their downline’s Pro Teams.
- 5% is paid out on HNT generated by the Pro Team of every affiliate in your Bronze Team
- 15% is paid out on HNT generated by the Pro Team of every affiliate in your Silver Team
- 20% is paid out on HNT generated by the Pro Team of every affiliate in your Gold Team
Pro Team Bonus
iHub Global affiliates receive a $500 bonus if they fill a Pro Team within their first 30 days (recruit five affiliates).
Whether the Pro Team Bonus is paid out in USD or HNT is unclear.
Joining iHub Global
iHub Global affiliate membership is either free or $99 annually.
The $99 affiliate option provides access to marketing funnels.
Conclusion
On Vimeo iHub Global describes itself as “THE WORLDS MOST AWESOME PASSIVE INCOME OPPORTUNITY”.
Early presentations pushed the Helium Network, a supposed solution to roaming devices that might find themselves without internet connectivity.
Later presentations however focused more on mining HNT. And it wasn’t long before “we’re gonna be the next bitcoin!” marketing cliche was trotted out.
Before we get into iHub Global’s compensation plan, there are a few issues I want to address regarding Helium Network.
When I first looked into my initial thought was why would anyone offer up their internet connection to complete strangers?
In theory IOT devices don’t consume much data. This I found amusing as one of Helium Network’s marketing points is the potential high cost of mobile data plans.
If your connected IOT devices aren’t using much data, surely it’s more convenient to run an IOT device on existing cellular data networks that already provide widespread coverage?
Another point to consider is IOT devices being notorious security liabilities. This sees them frequently hijacked and turned into destructive botnets.
What I’m unclear on is whether any IOT device can be hooked up to Helium Network or whether only specific hardware running specific software is compatible.
There’s no information regarding this provided on Helium Network’s website.
If it’s the former, then I can guarantee you if someone put in the effort they’d be able to utilize whatever the maximum throughput of a CoolSpot device is (subject to the limitation of the internet it’s connected to).
If it’s the latter, then this concept is never going to take off. Buying restrictive hardware that relies on a network provided by randoms is a terrible business model.
Not that any of that really matters, because at the end of the day all anyone is actually concerned about is accumulation of HNT tokens, hoping for a moon and cashing out.
Other than speculative investment, I can’t see any use for HNT tokens. Helium Network and its principals are sitting on a boatload of them, as well as whatever early adopters have mined.
There’s no inherent value provided by HNT, and that’s reflected in the poor trading volume.
Up until very recently HNT was being traded at a few hundred thousand a day on average.
There’s been two 2020 pumps since launch, August 12th and September 23rd.
September 23rd in particular is suspicious, as trading volume jumped to $35 million up from $3.6 million and $6.8 million the day before and after.
On January 22nd HNT began to pump again, raising the public trading value from $1.50 to its current $6.76.
As I write this something dodgy is going on, with trading volume spiking on March 11th to $52 million.
That’s up from an average of about $3 to $6 million daily over the past two months.
Outside of the general crypto market pump, why is this happening?
Certainly it’s got nothing to do with iHub Global, who to date don’t even have a functional website.
HNT token itself is just as useless as ever, and there have been no significant announcements by Helium Network. At least nothing that’d cause a $50+ million 24 hour trading spike.
That leaves us with good ol’ manipulation.
HNT is essentially a house of cards, that will collapse once those who’ve been hoarding it cash out.
In that sense it’s no different to any other shitcoin out there. The only reason I’ve bothered to investigate is HNT going up in value is iHub Global’s primary marketing pitch.
Sign up, buy a “money machine” as Chuck Hanson refers to the miners, accumulate HNT (quoted average of 3000 HNT annually per miner)… something something token manipulation, cash out.
Whether you want to get in on that is up to you, I’m just providing facts behind the marketing hype.
On the MLM side of things iHub Global’s primary issue is everyone is an affiliate.
The FTC classifies MLM companies without retail sales as pyramid schemes.
One plus is I saw no mention of the optional $99 annual fee being commissionable, so at least there’s that.
Update 19th March 2021 – Chuck Hanson has confirmed the $99 fee is not commissionable. /end update
One glaring negative is the barrier-to-entry of six recruits to access MLM commissions.
I don’t have any official figures to cite but it’s an open secret that most people who sign up to MLM opportunities don’t recruit anywhere near six people.
Why this matters is, and I think this might be true for most of iHub Global’s affiliates, you’re only keeping 50% of mined HNT.
If you can’t recruit six, who have to recruit another 1 to 5 each in order for you to make up the remaining 50% HNT difference, you’d simply be better off running your own HNT mining hardware outside of iHub Global.
With all commissions tied to recruitment iHub Global’s business model remains out of regulatory compliance.
The quick fix to this is cutting off free affiliates from commissions, making them retail customers.
I think the issue iHub Global faces with that decision though is Emrit and Cal Chip selling near-identical mining hardware.
Why share mined HNT with an MLM company when you can just buy the miners yourself and keep 100% of the mined tokens?
Glad I’m not the one who’ll have to work that one out. Approach with caution.