Helium (HNT)

Introduction to Helium (HNT)

Ever heard of IoT? It’s quite a thing now in the tech industry and it seems like everyday more and more uses are popping up for it. But what is it, you might be wondering? To start with, IoT stands for Internet of Things, which is quite a fitting name to describe what it is; a network filled with interrelated devices that can connect and transfer data between one another and the cloud.

Also, IoT devices are usually integrated with technology like software and sensors, potentially including virtual and mechanical machines or consumer objects too.

More and more organizations in various sectors are beginning to use IoT in their operations to increase efficiency, deliver sophisticated customer support, and enhance decision-making, increasing the overall value of the firm.

On the Internet of Things, a “thing” may be an individual with some implants, farm animals with biochip transponders, automobiles with built-in sensors that can send all manner of alerts, or any other man-made or natural object that’s capable of being assigned an IP (Internet Protocol) address and transferring data over networks.

Although the number of cryptocurrencies addressing any manner of use cases is in the thousands, there aren’t that many tapping into the IoT sector. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts might know about Iota (MIOTA), which is among the more popular blockless platforms connecting devices with the IoT. However, Helium has emerged as a blockchain-centric platform offering the same use case but with an entirely different approach.

Simply put, Helium is a blockchain network that can connect IoT devices. It aims to generate a decentralized, global, and reliable network that IoT devices could use; a network that’s also reliant on a community filled with HNT holders.

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The Inception of Helium

Helium can be traced all the way back to 2013, when Shawn Fanning, Sean Carey, and Amir Haleem co-founded the project and “envisioned creating a decentralized wireless infrastructure that could support the rapidly growing IoT industry.” And so, it was in July 2019 that Helium released its IoT hotspots along with HNT, short for Helium Network Token.

During launch, its ecosystem was running on the Helium Blockchain, and growth back then was bootstrapped with HNT incentives. Then, in August 2020, the Data Credit Token was launched to support protocol payments. During the years that followed, Helium has expanded IoT coverage throughout numerous countries, migrated to Solana, rolled out Helium Mobile, and more, basically transforming from a concept into a full-fledged decentralized network.

How Helium Works

There’s a lot that goes into the architecture of the Helium Network. However, some of its fundamental aspects include the Solana Blockchain, the HNT, IOT, and MOBILE tokens, and for the participants, you have Hotspot Owners, IoT Device Owners, Mobile Device Owners, and Developers. But what about consensus, though? Well, it has Proof-of-Coverage (PoC) for that.

Hotspot owners probably play the most important role within Helium, and as for what they are, they’re simply organizations and individuals that deploy and manage Helium-compatible devices, known as Hotspots, to offer network coverage.

Helium’s Decentralized Wireless Connectivity

Again, the decentralized wireless connectivity that Helium provides is largely thanks to Hotspots, which are these plug-and-play wireless devices that can offer connectivity that’s 200 times longer than Wi-Fi. How? due to the Helium LongFi accompanying these Hotspots, which is a blend of blockchain and the LoRaWAN wireless protocol.

Moreover, Hotspots also serve as miners on Helium, encouraging anyone to deploy their own Hotspots and receive HNT for growing the network and transmitting device data at costs significantly lower than cellular. Around 50 to 100 Hotspots can be enough for providing coverage to an entire city.

This is how Helium empowers various IoT devices, ranging from home delivery systems and smart pet collars to cooling systems, scooters, and smart lighting systems. Currently, Helium has around a million hotspots across the world, in 192 countries and throughout 77,000 cities and towns.

This makes it the biggest LoRaWAN (Long-Range Wide-Area-Network) network in the world. And recently, it has even expanded into the 5G landscape, deploying more than 8,000 5G CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) radios in a year.

This venture into the 5G space even has a name, and that’s Helium Mobile, which is Helium’s 5G mobile network made for users looking for more affordable and decentralized options for mobile connectivity.

Users possessing compatible devices, like tablets or smartphones equipped with Helium’s Mobile Hotspots, are welcome. Such hotspots integrate WiFi and CBRS technology to encourage flexibility for individuals who have varying connectivity preferences and requirements.

HNT Tokenomics

Helium, at the end of the day, is also a blockchain network, and what’s a blockchain network without its own native token? For Helium, as alluded to earlier, that’s the HNT token, although there are a few others too. The HNT token has quite a number of utilities under its belt, and these are functioning as network participation rewards, used within data transfers, generating data credits through a burning mechanism, and it can even be staked too.

Moving on to some tokenomics, particularly the initial token distribution of HNT, 30% of HNT has been allocated to Network Data Transfer, 35% to Hotspot Infrastructure, and 35% to Helium, INC, and Investors. Presently, the token is valued at around $4.50, with a market capitalization of over $725 million and a fully diluted valuation of more than $989 million. Its supply is capped at exactly 223 million tokens, and as of this writing, its circulating supply is over 163 million.

Mining HNT: A New Approach

This would be where we dive a bit deeper into the PoC mechanism that Helium uses. It’s an algorithm that incentivizes users for validating coverage, hence proving network connectivity and location. PoC is also constructed above the Helium Consensus Protocol, which further incorporates a multi-party computation consensus protocol called the HoneyBadgerBFT.

To participate in network building or, well, becoming miners, participants can deploy Hotspots and they’ll earn some Helium mining rewards. Also, the implementation of mining here is carried out through radio wave technology instead of GPUs and ASICs that those conventional mining rigs use, which makes Hotspots less energy-intensive too.

With PoC, Hotspots are granted tests to prove cryptographically that they are, in fact, offering radio coverage within a certain place at a certain time. Such tests can be assigned automatically and randomly, and if one passes them, they’ll get some Hotspot operator HNT rewards.

Acquiring and Storing HNT Tokens

So, has this project piqued your interest and you’re looking to get some HNT tokens for yourself? Turns out you’re in luck, as this token is widely available on many different exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, Bybit, and a ton more.

But eventually getting to buy one may take a while depending on what exchange you’ve selected, as there are many exchanges these days that require you to go through KYC before trading on them and setting up an account.

But once that’s done with, all you need to do is a simple swap with the tokens you already own and you will have HNT with you. Furthermore, once you’ve got them, consider some safe storage options like cold wallets, and try not to store them on exchanges.

The Market Performance of HNT

We discussed the HNT token’s price earlier, and while it is certainly better than how it was performing a while ago, it’s still a far cry compared to what its all-time high was in 2021. It hit more than $50 back then. Although it was gaining a bit of momentum earlier this year, it seems as if it failed to continue that. All in all, even if things appear to be more on the bullish end for the cryptocurrency sector, this token’s performance has been a bit underwhelming when considering that. Other tokens have managed to gain substantial value, but the HNT token hasn’t even managed to break the $10 mark yet.

Future Roadmap and Developments

There isn’t much in the form of a roadmap or upcoming features on Helium’s end. That said, the future of IoT could instead portray what this project’s outlook could be in the coming years. If there are significant demands for IoT devices, particularly in the form of smart cities, environmental monitoring, agricultural applications, and more, then Helium could play some sort of role in that it could be the network that IoT devices would need for transmitting data. If that indeed turns out to be the case, then Helium’s future could be a promising one, despite its rocky history.

Conclusion: The Revolutionary Impact of Helium

The Helium Network is certainly unique given the value it can offer, and its services have certainly broadened. It can be a good example of what happens when you try to harness the potential of blockchain and IoT simultaneously. But any value it could hold in the future depends largely on the utility or use cases that its network may provide and not so much on what HNT or its other tokens are worth. Right now, with Helium Mobile and how it has been expanding globally, things don’t seem that bad, albeit a bit unpredictable. Still, only time will tell as to how successful this project can really be or whether or not its efforts will pay off.

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Therefore, we are not responsible for the investment decision in Helium (HNT) and the resulting loss.

Helium (HNT) Basics

Here are some factors that investors should consider before investing in Helium (HNT).

Cryptocurrency Features	Helium (HNT) ()
Publisher or Developers
Headquarters (Registration Number)
Symbol
Platform
Published Date (CMC Registration)	-0001-11-30
Max Supply	350,000,000

Reliability Score of Helium (HNT) in 2024

These are indexes mesuring the investment reliability of Helium (HNT) conducted by Coin-Labs.com.

Investment Reliability Rating Items	Scores and Current Status
Company Activation Rate	/ 10.0 CAR
Communication Rate	/ 10.0 CR
Technology Transparency Rate	/ 10.0 TTR
Development Participation Rate	/ 10.0 DPR
Listing Status on the World's Top 10 Exchanges	Listed on 0 Exchanges
Number of Available Pairs Worldwide	4 Pairs
Market Cap of the Cryptocurrency	6,683,329 USD (Rank #1295)

The table above shows the result of investment suitability evaluation for Helium (HNT).
Check out how we evaluate cryptocurrencies on the crypto rating description page.

Helium (HNT) Price

Here are the price and recent trading volume of Helium (HNT). (Data of 2024-06-13 20:55:00)

Price Items	Price and Trading Volume of Helium (HNT)
Helium (HNT) Price	0.287 USD
Price Change 24h	35.10%
Price Change 7d	46.96%
Trading Volume 24h	1,331,944 USD
Trading Volume Change 24h	28.56%

Cryptocurrency Metadata

You can check the development status and social media information of Helium (HNT) through the links in the table below.

Metadata Source	URL
🌎 Official Website
📖 White Paper
🛰️ Source Code (GitHub)
🐦 Twitter
🤖 Reddit
🎺 Message Board

Where to Buy Helium (HNT)

Here are the top ten world crypto exchanges where traders can buy Helium (HNT) in 2024.

Top10 Exchanges	Listed Status	Page URL
Binance	Not listed
Coinbase	Not listed
Kraken	Not listed
KuCoin	Not listed
Bitfinex	Not listed
OKX	Not listed
Huobi	Not listed
Bitstamp	Not listed
Bybit	Not listed
Gate.io	Not listed

Frequently Asked Questions