HNT: Why Helium is the New Crypto Mining Haven

Helium (HNT) and Data Credits are the two units of exchange that power the Burn-and-Mint Equilibrium token model of The People's Network.

The People's Network, powered by the Helium Blockchain, constitutes a fundamental change for decentralised wireless infrastructure.

What is The People’s Network?

In a nutshell, The People's Network is the world's largest and quickest-growing Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), with hundreds of organisations and thousands of developers already BUIDLing on the network.

By simply deploying any device in your home or office, you can obtain low-power network coverage that can sustain billions of devices at a time. And it gets better – by connecting your device to a network Hotspot, upon device validation and wireless coverage provision, you also earn a new cryptocurrency called HNT.

This crypto mining setup is without expensive GPU technology and makes for an interesting passive income opportunity. HNT mining is done via radio technology, and, currently, there are more than 990k network Hotspots, with over 143M HNT tokens in circulation.

Helium (HNT) market cap and price predictions 2030

As is advertised on the website, there is no pre-mine of the cryptocurrency and its maximum supply is capped at 223M tokens.

With more than 143M HNT in circulation currently, roughly 64% of the total token supply has been distributed to various eligible parties already.

According to Coingecko data, HNT is priced at $1.77 at the time of writing. The crypto asset has a total market cap of more than $255M and a 24-hour trading volume of over $2.55M. HNT achieved an all-time high of $54.88 on 12 November, 2021, and an all-time low of $0.11 on 18 April, 2022.

Source: Coingecko

From this chart and historical price data, it is clear that Helium is a particularly volatile cryptocurrency that experienced a massive price dip between late November 2021 and March 2023.

Of course, this period has coincided with several macroeconomic and crypto industry-related issues. Since falling to a 17-month low of $1.23 on 23 March, 2023, Helium has recovered slightly. That said, what is the true ceiling for the cryptocurrency?

While it is hard to predict how high HNT could fare in terms of its price, The People's Network is surely gaining traction by the day. Several prominent figures across numerous industries are taking advantage of the network, including Agulus, Airly, Nowi, Digital Matter, and LoneStar Tracking.

“Our devices monitor water usage and help with leak detection. For us, Helium is essential because the cost of and the barriers to installing a gateway to every single deployment would make those deployments much more difficult.” -Nowi co-founder Charles Fayal

These organisations are BUIDLing a rich ecosystem of software and hardware solutions that utilise and support The People's Network. Applications include indoor/outdoor location tracking, the Internet of Things (IoT), smarter agriculture, smart gateways, air quality monitoring, staking provisions, and smart weather stations.

It is evident that The People’s Network infrastructure is supporting REAL WORLD change, with HNT at the heart of the ecosystem.

Keeping that in mind, the prospect of cheap crypto mining (in the form of HNT mining), the cryptocurrency's fixed token supply, historical data, and the potential growth of the crypto industry with time, among several other factors, the crypto asset could achieve a multi-billion dollar market cap in the near future. HNT is likely to hit double-digits again as well.

Popular crypto exchanges to buy the cryptocurrency include eToro, Crypto.com Exchange, Gate.io, Kucoin, and Bybit. Currently, Gate.io is the most popular exchange to trade Helium.

As always, do your own research and follow the project closely to learn of the latest updates. To help you better understand the crypto asset's fundamentals, let us explore it in more detail.

Everything you MUST know about Helium (HNT)

• The distribution of Helium changes over time. This ensures that HNT distribution is aligned with network needs. Let us explore the Year 1 Breakdown to understand the incentives model better:

• Network data transfer: 30% of the Year 1 supply was awarded for hearing devices and receiving and passing on their data packets to the internet.

• Hotspot infrastructure: 35% of the Year 1 supply was awarded for creating, witnessing, and participating in Proof-of-Coverage challenges.

• Helium Systems Inc. and investors: The remaining 35% of the Year 1 supply was assigned to organisations, investors, and founders who will be in charge of blockchain governance.

For BUIDLing and securing coverage, a large proportion of Helium is allocated to Hotspot owners in the early days. As the network grows in stature, Hotspot owners earn more for relaying device data on the network, while Helium Systems Inc. and investors earn less.

After 20 years, HNT distributions will no longer undergo change. The below chart summarises the HNT token distribution system over 50 years.

Network Data Transfer Rewards

Network Data Transfer Rewards are distributed at a 1:1 ratio to Helium spending and are restricted to 30% of all minted HNT (Year 1). As a bonus for providing early network coverage, the remainder is awarded to the Proof-of-Coverage Rewards Pool as a bonus.

Helium (HNT) supply

With a maximum supply of 223 tokens, all Helium was mined from Genesis, commencing at a rate of 5M tokens each month and then halving after two years. On 1 August, 2021, the net issuance of HNT tokens was halved to 2.5M tokens/month.

On 1 August, 2023, the net HNT issuance will again be halved to 1.25M tokens/month.

## Net Helium (HNT) Emissions

With the net HNT issuance halving every two years, there needs to be a mechanism to reward Hotspots if there is not enough Helium minted at the time of asking. Net Emissions uses (recycles) 'burned' HNT tokens to reward Hotspots (see the Burn-and-Mint Equilibrium token model we referred to earlier).

Net Emissions are limited to 1% of current token issuance per epoch. This system oversees Data Credit network usage and adds that amount of tokens (taking into consideration the cap) onto the issuance supply.

The system ensures deflationary pressure is not extinguished after the cap has been reached while allowing for rewards to exist in years to come. Once the limit is exceeded, the network value should logically increase, satisfying the Burn-and-Mint Equilibrium token model.

The below chart explains how Net Emissions towards Hotspot rewards increase as HNT minting decreases over 50 years.

Considering these factors and features, it is clear to see that HNT is backed by sound fundamentals. Coupled with the promise of the network's underlying technology and all other points of discussion, Helium seems to be a good long-term investment option. For the last time, DYOR before making an investment decision!

To round off your understanding of Helium and the token model of The People’s Network, let us explore the Data Credits system.

Data Credits

These are used by devices to send data on The People's Network and for blockchain transaction fees (Helium Blockchain). They are created by burning HNT tokens, are tied to a single user, and are non-exchangeable. As such, Data Credits are the ONLY payment accepted to send data over the network.

The data transfer takes place via Helium LongFi. The price of one Data Credit is fixed in US dollars (1 Data Credit = $0.00001). You can convert your HNT to Data Credits or purchase Data Credits from an HNT owner.

As soon as Helium is converted to Data Credits, the converted tokens are burned and removed from the circulating supply.

Fun facts about Helium (HNT), The People’s Network

Here are some fun facts about The People’s Network that you MUST know:

• You can stake HNT to become a validator, secure the network, and earn more of the cryptocurrency! Learn everything about staking here.

• The network is built on open-source technology and governed by an open association. This makes for transparent development and governance.

• With thousands of existing MCUs, chipsets, and sensors, development on the network is streamlined and easy.

• There are more than 120 projects utilising the network's wireless technology at the moment.

• The wireless technology is scalable and affordable, as running a single Helium sensor costs mere cents.