When Mother Nature decided to throw a tantrum with Hurricane Helene, Helium hotspots stood tough, ensuring 5G coverage and delivering emergency kits to North Carolina's brave communities. Talk about being the real MVP in a storm!
Now, let's talk shop. Helium's native token, HNT, wasn't exactly having its best quarter. It took a bit of a nosedive, slipping 20% from a $1.3 billion to a $1.0 billion market cap, and its price dropped from $7.54 to $5.88. But hey, every great story has its ups and downs, right?
Despite the rocky market, Helium just kept on growing. The network's hotspot army expanded by 14%, now boasting 24,800 strong, up from 21,800. And get this – their unlimited plans are way cheaper than those usual sky-high US telecom prices. Can you say, “Sign me up?”
Introducing Discovery Mapping – a feature that rewards users in HNT for sharing location data. Although, since February 4, the reward system has switched gears to Cloud Points. The full scoop is expected in the Q1 report, so stay tuned.
Back to the hurricane – while many were left in the dark, Helium's hotspots shone through, providing essential 5G coverage and handing out emergency kits, including those nifty Starlink devices, to help the affected folks.
Helium's Internet of Things (IoT) network also had a growth spurt in Q4, with hotspots increasing by 20%. After migrating to Solana in early 2023, a whopping 33,000 hotspots joined the party, some courtesy of gamers. That brings the total to over 375,000 hotspots, up from 342,000 before the big move. But there's a catch: supply has outpaced demand. Data Credits (DCs) help cover onboarding fees, like the $10 to register a hotspot, but actual data usage is still shy, with DC burns tallying up to just a few hundred bucks daily.
In the past, whispers emerged that Helium's founders kept a treasure chest of early token rewards. Allegedly, insiders mined millions of HNT tokens, which at their peak were worth a jaw-dropping $250 million.
And oh, the drama! Helium once claimed Lime, the rideshare company, as a key client, saying Lime used their service to track e-scooters. But Lime’s Global Communications Director, Russell Murphy, clarified that their relationship was just a 2019 fling. Before that, Salesforce also denied any partnership, leading to a swift logo disappearing act on Helium's end.
So there you have it – the highs, the lows, and the whirlwind journey of Helium. Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter in this ever-evolving saga!
