When most people hear “Helium,” they think of party balloons. This article is about the other Helium: a decentralized wireless network powered by community-run hotspots and a cryptocurrency called HNT.
The basic idea is simple. Instead of one telecom company spending billions on cell towers, individuals deploy small antennas (Helium hotspots) that provide network coverage to nearby phones and IoT devices. In return, those hotspot operators earn HNT, the network’s token. Businesses and consumers pay to use the coverage, and the system runs without a central carrier in charge.
Helium is the most cited example of DePIN, decentralized physical infrastructure networks, in action. It’s also the largest deployed consumer DePIN by hotspot count, the home of an actual MVNO phone plan called Helium Mobile, and one of the busiest applications on Solana. Here’s how the Helium network works in 2026.
What Is Helium?
Helium is a decentralized wireless network that lets individuals deploy hotspots (small antennas connected to home internet) to provide network coverage in exchange for cryptocurrency rewards in the form of HNT tokens.
The project was founded in 2013 by Helium, Inc. (now operating as Nova Labs) to solve a specific problem: deploying connectivity for IoT devices was too expensive and too slow under the traditional telecom model. The Helium mainnet launched in 2019. The network later expanded into 5G mobile data. In April 2023, Helium migrated from its own purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain to Solana, a change that cut transaction costs and unlocked smart-contract programmability. Governance now sits with the nonprofit Helium Foundation.
What makes Helium notable is deployment. The network has roughly 376,000 active hotspots worldwide, with carrier offload deals signed with T-Mobile in the U.S. and Telefónica’s Movistar in Mexico. The carrier-offload model is straightforward: when a T-Mobile or Movistar customer is near a Helium hotspot with strong signal, their phone can route data through Helium instead of the carrier’s own tower, and the carrier pays Helium for the relief. More than 120,000 people use Helium Mobile as their actual phone plan. In a crypto sector full of testnets and roadmaps, Helium is one of the rare projects where you can point at hardware on rooftops and say: that’s the network.
How Does Helium Work?
A Helium hotspot is essentially a tiny cell tower you run from your window. It’s a small device (usually about the size of a Wi-Fi router) that you plug into your home internet and position with a clear line of sight.
It transmits wireless signal in a small radius around your home, and the protocol pays you in tokens for the coverage and data your hotspot serves. That single piece of hardware can serve different networks depending on the device. Helium runs three of them.
The IoT network (LoRaWAN)
This was the original Helium use case. LoRaWAN (long-range wide-area network) is a low-power, long-range, low-bandwidth wireless standard built for sensors and trackers, not phones. Think shipping containers reporting their location, soil-moisture probes on a farm, asset tags in a warehouse. A single LoRaWAN hotspot can cover several miles. Operators on this network earn the IOT token.
The 5G network (CBRS)
In 2022, Helium added cellular coverage built on CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) a slice of U.S. spectrum the government opened up for shared use. A 5G CBRS hotspot delivers actual mobile data to phones in a much smaller radius (typically indoor or block-scale). Operators on this network earn the MOBILE token.
How the tokens fit together
IOT and MOBILE are network-specific “subDAO” tokens. A subDAO is a sub-network with its own token and economics, all anchored to the main Helium token, HNT. Originally, hotspot operators earned the subDAO token for their network and converted to HNT through a treasury. In November 2024, the community approved HIP 138, which simplified the system so hotspots now earn HNT directly, while the protocol still tracks how much of each emission comes from MOBILE-network versus IOT-network activity.
HNT and the Helium Token Economy
HNT is the native token of the Helium network on Solana. It serves three roles: it’s the anchor token the subDAOs convert into, it’s used in governance votes, and it’s the token customers ultimately burn to pay for network usage.
The mechanism that ties demand to supply is called Burn-and-Mint Equilibrium, or BME. Customers (telecoms paying for offload, businesses sending IoT data) don’t pay in HNT directly. They buy Data Credits, a stable in-network credit pegged to $0.00001 per byte.
Data Credits don’t fluctuate with HNT’s market price, which makes them usable for businesses budgeting real network spend. Buying Data Credits burns HNT, permanently removing it from supply. New HNT is minted on a fixed schedule to reward hotspot operators. The more the network is used, the more HNT gets burned. If demand outpaces emissions, supply contracts.
Helium Mobile — A Phone Plan Powered by the Network
Helium Mobile is a U.S. mobile carrier launched by Nova Labs that runs primarily on T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network and supplements it with Helium’s own 5G hotspots in covered areas. Despite the question coming up often, Helium Mobile is not part of AT&T – the partner is T-Mobile.
The pitch is straightforward: nationwide 5G at a fraction of what the big three carriers charge, with extra capacity in areas where the community network is dense. As of mid-2026, Helium Mobile offers two paid plans: Air at $15/month with 10GB of high-speed data, and Infinity at $30/month for unlimited (36GB before slowdown).
A free Zero plan existed for most of 2025 but was paused in April 2026, and the legacy $5 and $20 unlimited plans were retired in January 2026.
Yes, it offers 5G, both Helium’s own 5G coverage where available and 5G via the T-Mobile roaming partner. Customers in dense urban areas (Miami, Los Angeles, New York) get the most from the dual-network design. For rural users depending heavily on T-Mobile roaming, the value is closer to that of any other budget MVNO.
Helium Hotspot Mining — Can You Still Earn?
In 2021, Helium hotspots were a small phenomenon. Hardware sold out everywhere, units in good urban locations were reportedly earning hundreds of dollars a month, and crypto Twitter was full of “passive income” pitches. Then the music stopped. HNT’s price fell sharply through 2022, rewards were rebalanced to better reflect actual data usage instead of theoretical coverage, and most hotspot owners watched their monthly earnings drop by an order of magnitude or more.
In 2026, the picture is more sober. According to publicly shared deployer numbers, urban 5G operators in well-placed locations earn roughly $0.90–$2.50 per day in MOBILE rewards, with IoT hotspot rewards typically lower. Saturation in major cities means new hotspots in already-covered areas earn very little — the protocol now adjusts rewards based on density, so a third hotspot on a block where two already exist will earn a fraction of the first one’s rate.
Placement matters as much as the hardware itself: line of sight to open street, foot traffic for the 5G side, and antenna height for the IoT side all move the needle. Hardware comes from approved manufacturers including RAK and Bobcat for IoT, and FreedomFi (now Nova Labs–owned), Bobcat, and MosoLabs for 5G CBRS. Indoor CBRS small cells start around $450; high-power outdoor units run $2,500 or more.
Honest verdict: mining Helium today is closer to a long-term contribution to a network you believe in than a fast-money side hustle. Returns depend heavily on placement, electricity costs, and which network you’re on.
Conclusion
Helium is a decentralized wireless network where individuals deploy hotspots to provide IoT, 5G, and consumer mobile coverage, earning HNT tokens in return. It’s the most-deployed DePIN project in the world, now built on Solana, with a working consumer phone plan and real carrier partnerships behind it.
