As a growing fleet of drones hover over U.S. skies, the devices are giving rise to security concerns. In some cases, the potential threat is real while others, like a 2024 UFO panic in New Jersey, are rooted more in popular hysteria. Both situations underscore the need for keeping track of drones and, on Wednesday, a fast-growing startup called SkySafe announced a novel plan for the public to help it do just that.
San Diego-based SkySafe tracks drones, and sells the data it collects to government agencies, airports, stadium operators and others. It does this by installing sensors on buildings and other locations. The sensors read the transmitters that every drone manufacturer must include, allowing SkySafe to create a real-time digital interface that shows all the drones in a given radius, as well as who is operating them. Now, it wants you to join in these efforts—and says it will pay you a share of its revenue in the form of crypto tokens.
To carry out this plan, SkySafe is conducting a pre-sale of its sensors to the public starting today. Those who purchase one for $949 plus tax will receive it by the second quarter of next year, and be able to contribute to a growing network tracking drones in the U.S. that the company is calling FliteGrid. According to the company, installing the sensor is “effortless” and only entails placing it somewhere like a roof or balcony with a clear view of the sky.
SkySafe founder and CEO Grant Jordan, an Air Force veteran, says the company currently has a robust network surrounding critical infrastructure, but that sensors owned by the public will fill in key patches, including in many residential neighborhoods.
“With the launch of this product, we’re building a low cost sensor that anyone can obtain and contribute to the global picture,” he said, comparing the future FliteGrid network to the popular FlightAware website, which shows the route and location of airplanes.
The crypto question
In a press release, SkySafe promises that those who purchase a token will receive tokens of a yet-to-be-issued cryptocurrency called $FLIGHT as rewards for providing real-time data. The company added that it will issue the tokens on Solana—the third most popular blockchain after Bitcoin and Ethereum—and that rewards will be delivered immediately. The size of payouts will be determined by tiers that are based on the location of the sensors.
Those who view the SkySafe project as an opportunity to earn money may want to proceed cautiously, however. The project falls into a once-buzzy category of crypto known as DePIN (short for decentralized physical infrastructure networks), and previous efforts have failed to live up to the hype.
The most notorious example is a project called Helium that, in an earlier phase, invited people to buy pricey hardware that would allow them to earn tokens by contributing to a wireless network. But as a Fortune investigation revealed, the entire Helium network paid out a grand total of just $1,150 over 30 days. Meanwhile, the backers of the project, including the prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, earned millions of dollars by selling stashes of Helium’s token early in the process.
SkySafe’s investors include some of the same venture firms that backed those earlier projects. In response to a question about whether it is realistic for those who purchase a sensor to earn more than a pittance, Jordan said DePIN has evolved and has learned from mistakes of previous ventures. He declined, though, to provide public details about the rate and scope of the token payouts, or explain why SkySafe could pay customers in cash.
A spokesperson for the company said it will share more details about the token arrangements prior to FliteGrid’s launch next year, and that orders can be cancelled and refunded prior to shipping.
The upshot is that SkySafe’s token offering may prove more successful than previous DePIN efforts, in part because the company is already bringing in real revenue, and its offering—drone tracking—appears to have real world appeal. Its far from clear, however, if the token payouts will come anywhere close to offsetting the high price of a sensor. Some customers, though, may not care and may be satisfied with having an opportunity to learn more about the drones flying around their neighborhood.