In the fourth quarter, Helium’s native token, HNT, experienced a 20% decline in circulating market capitalization, decreasing from $1.3 billion to $1.0 billion. The token’s price fell by 22%, dropping from $7.54 to $5.88. Despite the market downturn, the Helium network continued to grow.
### Growth in Hotspot Adoption
Helium Mobile saw a 14% increase in the number of hotspots, rising from 21,800 to 24,800. Helium Mobile’s plans remain significantly cheaper than typical US telecom providers. The service also launched the Discovery Mapping feature, rewarding users with HNT for sharing location data. As of February 4, these incentives have shifted to Cloud Points, with more details to be provided in the Q1 report.
In addition to adoption growth, Helium Mobile proved its utility during Hurricane Helene in North Carolina at the end of September. While the disaster disrupted electricity and water supply, Helium hotspots remained operational, providing 5G coverage. The team also distributed emergency kits, including Starlink devices, to support affected communities.
Helium’s IoT network expanded in Q4, with hotspots increasing by 20%. Since the network’s migration to Solana in early 2023, 33,000 hotspots have been added, several thousand of which were contributed by gamers. This brought the total to over 375,000 hotspots, up from 342,000 pre-migration. Despite rapid infrastructure growth, demand has not yet matched supply, according to data analytics findings.
Data Credits (DCs) are used to cover onboarding fees, like the $10 cost to register a hotspot, but data transfer usage remains low, with daily DC burns limited to a few hundred dollars. As a result, Helium has successfully deployed LoRaWAN connectivity infrastructure but has not yet generated significant network demand.
### Past Controversies
Helium’s founders and associates were reportedly accused of hoarding a large portion of early token rewards. Insiders allegedly mined millions of HNT tokens, valued at $250 million at its peak, while the public received only a fraction. During the same period, Helium faced criticism after inaccurately claiming Lime, the rideshare company, as a key client. Lime’s Global Communications Director clarified that their relationship was limited to a 2019 test. Additionally, Salesforce denied any partnership, prompting Helium to remove their logos.
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