Helium Network

Helium is a decentralized wireless infrastructure network that incentivizes community members to deploy and operate hotspots in exchange for HNT, a Solana-native token. The network provides IoT connectivity via LoRaWAN and smartphone carrier offload via Wi-Fi, and has grown to serve more than two million daily active users.

Background

Helium was founded in 2013 as a LoRa gateway company, initially signing agreements with building owners to place gateways for IoT connectivity. Facing financial constraints by 2017, the company pivoted to a cryptocurrency-incentivized model, offering individually purchasable hotspots with token rewards to anyone who would deploy coverage from home or office. The parent company rebranded as Nova Labs in March 2022 and raised $200 million from Tiger Global Management and Andreessen Horowitz.

In April 2023, following community approval of Helium Improvement Proposal 70 (HIP 70), the entire Helium blockchain migrated to Solana. The migration retired Helium's proprietary layer-1 chain and moved the HNT token and all on-chain activity to Solana mainnet, improving transaction throughput, reducing costs, and integrating the network with Solana's broader DeFi and tooling ecosystem.

How the Network Works

Helium operates two distinct wireless infrastructure layers:

IoT Network — Hotspots broadcast LoRaWAN signals that allow low-power IoT devices (sensors, trackers, meters) to transmit small packets of data without a SIM card or cellular contract. Device operators burn HNT-denominated Data Credits (DCs) for data transfer; hotspot operators earn HNT rewards for providing verifiable coverage and handling that traffic.

Mobile Network — Wi-Fi hotspots deployed in venues, homes, and outdoor locations provide automatic Passpoint-based connectivity to smartphones. Carrier partners offload subscriber data to the Helium network, paying in Data Credits. Helium Mobile, the network's consumer MVNO, offers unlimited plans at $5 per month by routing traffic through the community-built infrastructure; by end of 2025 it had enrolled more than 600,000 subscribers.

Coverage is verified on-chain through Proof-of-Coverage challenges. Hotspot operators earn HNT proportional to their verified coverage and the data they transfer. Rewards have shifted progressively toward data transfer as the network matures, with HIP 150 introducing venue-based multipliers to incentivize deployment in high-demand indoor locations.

Tokenomics

HNT is an SPL token on Solana and the network's single reward and utility token. The token supply follows a halving schedule: in August 2025 annual issuance was cut from 15 million to 7.5 million HNT, bringing daily emissions to approximately 20,548 HNT. By the end of 2025 the network had reached net deflationary tokenomics, with Data Credit burns exceeding new emissions on a sustained basis.

Helium previously operated two sub-network tokens — IOT for LoRaWAN rewards and MOBILE for cellular rewards — introduced in 2022 to give each sub-network independent emission schedules. HIP 138, approved by the community on November 22, 2024 and deployed on January 29, 2025, reversed this structure and returned HNT as the sole reward token across both networks. The consolidation was intended to reduce complexity for new participants, concentrate liquidity, and strengthen HNT's utility. IOT and MOBILE tokens earned before the transition remain claimable and exchangeable for HNT via the Helium Wallet or Jupiter.

Network Scale

By year-end 2025, Helium reported 120,000 active hotspots providing coverage, with approximately 376,000 total deployed. The network transferred 15.72 petabytes of data during 2025 — equivalent to streaming more than three million HD movies. Daily active users grew nearly tenfold during the year, from roughly 250,000 at the start of 2025 to more than two million by December.

International expansion accelerated through partnerships: Telefonica's Movistar launched Helium Mobile Hotspots in Mexico with access to 2.3 million subscribers; Mambo WiFi extended coverage into Brazil. The Ameriband partnership added more than 100,000 hotspots across North America in a single deployment. Helium Plus, which lets existing Wi-Fi operators join the network without purchasing new hardware, has reduced the barrier for brownfield venue activation.

Industry recognition followed: Helium received the Fierce Network Innovation Award for Mobile Evolution, the Wireless Communications Alliance Social Contribution Award, the Wireless Broadband Alliance Best Wi-Fi Innovation Award, and the WiFi NOW Affordable Connectivity Award. Andreessen Horowitz cited it as one of the defining DePIN companies in crypto.

HeliumOS

In September 2026 Nova Labs launched HeliumOS, an operating system platform for carriers, MVNOs, and large indoor venues. The platform bundles subscriber management, SIM and eSIM provisioning, billing, Passpoint-based Wi-Fi onboarding, a Wi-Fi offload experience layer for real-time session control, and HeliumAI no-code analytics. Affiniti Ventures — operator of Noble Mobile and Helium Mobile — was its first customer. HeliumOS positions Nova Labs as an infrastructure software vendor to the broader telecom industry, moving beyond its role as a network operator.

Leadership transitioned in June 2026 when founder Amir Haleem stepped down as CEO to become Chairman; Mario Di Dio, previously GM of Networks, assumed the CEO role.

Solana Integration

HNT, the IoT program, and the MOBILE program are all deployed on Solana mainnet. The program addresses porcSnvH9pvcYPmQ65Y8qcZSRxQBiBBQX7UV5nmBegy (IoT) and memMa1HG4odAFmUbGWfPwS1WWfK95k99F2YTkGvyxZr (MOBILE) govern the respective sub-network reward pools. Data Credits are burned as on-chain Solana transactions, making network usage directly visible in Solana's transaction history and creating the burn pressure that underpins the network's deflationary tokenomics.