Helium Mobile token surges 25 times in half a month. Is the DePIN track about to explode?

In the research reports of major institutions, DePIN is one of the most favored crypto tracks.

In the past two weeks, the DePIN track project Helium has performed well. Since Helium Mobile announced the launch of a $20-a-month unlimited mobile data package in the United States on December 6, its token MOBILE has soared more than 25 times.

What is Helium Mobile? What is the relationship between Helium Mobile and Helium? Why did the MOBILE token soar? Golden Finance reporters will take you to find out.

What is Helium Mobile?

When talking about Helium Mobile, we have to mention Helium.

Helium started out as a decentralized IoT (LoRaWAN network) project. In the bull market of 2021, Helium used the token HNT as an incentive to grow its LoRaWAN network from 15,000 hotspots in January 2021 to more than 900,000 hotspots within 12 months, operating in more than 182 countries, becoming the world's largest decentralized IoT network.

Helium’s LoRaWAN network is a great example of how crypto token incentives can be used to build decentralized infrastructure networks (DePIN).

Therefore, Helium has set its sights on the larger market of "5G cellular networks". According to public information, the market opportunity of 5G cellular networks is expected to be 100 times that of IoT networks.

In April 2022, Helium raised $200 million, led by a16z and Tiger, with participation from venture arms of telecom giants such as Deutsche Telekom, Nokia, and LibertyGlobal. As part of the announcement, Helium announced that it would rename its corporate entity "Nova Labs. " Helium wants to replicate the process of crypto tokens incentivizing the rapid development of LoRaWAN networks to other network types, especially 5G cellular networks. To meet performance requirements, Helium also migrated to the Solana blockchain on April 18, 2023.

In July 2022, Helium launched MOBILE tokens as rewards for 5G hotspots to expand Helium 5G coverage.

In August 2022, Nova Labs announced its own crypto operator Helium Mobile. The so-called crypto operator is similar to a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO, which refers to a service provider that does not operate infrastructure.

Helium Mobile combines Helium's own 5G network with the network of T-Mobile, a traditional mobile network operator in the United States. When Helium Mobile users are in areas without decentralized wireless network ( DeWi) coverage, the encrypted operator will automatically switch to T-Mobile's network.

In other words, Helium Mobile is a decentralized 5G operator that uses the MOBILE token to incentivize network operators to deploy and operate 5G mobile network hardware, thereby forming a decentralized wireless network (DeWi).

Why is the price of MOBILE token rising?

Since the launch of the MOBILE token, its price has remained relatively stable.

After Helium Mobile launched a $5 data plan with unlimited calls, text messages, and mobile data in Miami on a trial basis in August 2023, MOBILE prices began to rise.

Then in December 2023, MOBILE prices began to soar.

The main triggering event was that on December 6, Helium Mobile launched an unlimited data subscription service across the United States with a monthly fee of US$20.

As part of the onboarding of new users to Helium Mobile, Helium Mobile subscribers can choose to earn “mapping rewards” by sharing their phone’s session connection data with Helium. Helium Mobile subscribers can help identify locations where Helium users are clustered. This data is valuable to Helium Mobile because it enables the company to encourage users to deploy hotspots in those areas.

If the Helium Mobile subscriber agrees, an NFT will be minted into their Helium wallet and the NFT holder will receive a proportional share of the MOBILE mapping rewards . Mapper rewards can get 20% of the total MOBILE rewards.

It is currently estimated that the MVNO has accumulated nearly 9,000 subscribers. Since the launch of the $20 wireless data plan on December 6, the number of subscribers has increased rapidly.

Three main tokens of Helium ecosystem

Helium Mobile is just one of the networks in the Helium ecosystem. The Helium ecosystem is mainly composed of three tokens:

HNT: Meets the needs of two main parties in the Helium ecosystem: 1. Hotspot hosts and operators. Hosts will be rewarded with network tokens, such as IOT or Mobile, while deploying and maintaining network coverage. These network tokens are redeemable for HNT. 2. Enterprises and developers use the Helium network to connect devices and build IoT applications. Data Credits are a dollar-pegged utility token derived from HNT, used to pay transaction fees for wireless data transmission on the network.

IOT: The protocol token of the Helium IoT network. IoT was introduced to Helium through the community proposal HIP-52 to build the network. The first IoT token was minted on April 18, 2023 when Helium migrated to Solana. IOT tokens are mined by LoRaWAN hotspots through data transfer revenue and proof of coverage.

MOBILE: The protocol token for the Helium mobile network. MOBILE tokens are mined by 5G-CBRS and WiFi hotspots through data transfer revenue and proof of coverage.

IOT tokens, MOBILE tokens will always be backed by HNT and convertible to HNT. To achieve this, each network in the Helium network is assigned a HNT pool based on the network utility score. The redemption ratio is automatically set by the treasury swap contract based on the network utility score. The Helium Wallet App is the main platform for exchanging IOT and MOBILE for HNT.

The maximum supply of MOBILE is 230 billion . 50 billion MOBILE were pre-mined at the launch of the Mobile Network and distributed to the Network Operations Fund managed by the Helium Foundation. A portion of this allocation has been allocated to Mobile Network hotspots throughout the Genesis period. MOBILE's first year begins on August 1, 2022, and the first token is minted on August 12, 2022. It is halved every two years, in line with the HNT halving.

DePIN Track: Decentralized Wireless Network (DeWi)

In terms of scope, Helium Mobile is a project in the DePIN track decentralized wireless network (DeWi).

DeWi aims to incentivize operators to deploy and maintain telecommunications network hardware in exchange for token rewards, thereby revolutionizing the construction, operation and ownership of communication networks. Compared with traditional suppliers, the DeWi network reduces capital and operating expenses and optimizes unit economics; DeWi eliminates the cost of acquiring spectrum licenses and ends the uniform charge for end users.

According to a report by Messari, there are currently more than 14 DeWi networks, including cellular, WiFi, LoRaWAN, Bluetooth, and hybrid networks.

• 5G Networks (Cellular): Two prominent players are Helium 5G and Pollen Mobile Networks, which leverage the recently deregulated CBRS spectrum. Cellular networks have the largest market opportunity compared to other network market sizes.

• WiFi Networks: Aims to create a global shared WiFi network that anyone can connect to for a low price. WayRu and WiFi Dabba are two early projects.

• LoRaWAN network (IoT): LoRaWAN is a long-range, low-power wireless communication protocol. It is suitable for transmitting small data packets - such as sensor data - over long distances, which makes it the network of choice for IoT devices. In addition to Helium, Foam and Mesh+ are also working on related construction.

• Bluetooth mesh: This network is suitable for low-power and low-range use cases because of Bluetooth's low-energy power. Nodle is a Bluetooth mesh network that uses smartphones and Bluetooth low-energy routers to connect IoT devices to the Internet.

• Hybrid Networks: Hybrid networks bring together different wireless technologies into a single solution to provide decentralized internet connectivity. Althea and World Mobile Token are two examples of this.