Helium

HNT is the token of Helium, a wireless network of independently run Hotspots that carries mobile data for phone carriers.

Helium is a wireless network built by people and businesses who run small access points called Hotspots. Phone carriers pay to route their customers' data through these Hotspots, mostly over Wi-Fi, instead of building more towers. The network launched on 29 July 2019 with no pre-mine and moved from its own blockchain to Solana on 18 April 2023. Nova Labs, the company that founded Helium, still develops and operates it.

HNT is the network token. Deployers earn it for carrying carrier traffic. To use the network, carriers pay with Data Credits, which can only be made by burning HNT, so real usage removes HNT from circulation. Holders can also lock HNT to get veHNT, which gives votes on network proposals and a share of new tokens. The earlier MOBILE and IOT tokens are separate assets and can be exchanged for HNT.

New HNT is issued on a schedule that halves every two years, and documentation long gave a maximum of about 223 million HNT. In July 2026 holders approved HIP-149, which adds a one-time issue of about 141 million HNT over three years into a vault run by Nova Labs to pay for growth, and ends rewards for Hotspots that are only plugged in. The proposal itself says effective maximum supply rises from about 206 million to about 347 million.

In 2026 Nova Labs sold its consumer phone service, Helium Mobile, to Noble Mobile, changed its chief executive and refocused on serving carriers. In the US, the SEC sued Nova Labs in January 2025 and dropped its unregistered securities claims in April 2025; Nova Labs paid $200,000 to settle a separate claim.