The CEO of Helium Mobile announced on Jan 2nd that the company will no longer be using 100% of its revenue to buy and burn HNT tokens, but rather redirecting it towards network growth.
Community reaction to the announcement has been mixed, with some people upset that the decision effectively reduced revenue sharing to token holders.
On the other hand, some community members agreed that revenue shouldn't be "wasted" on token buybacks, but rather put to good use like partnership development and investment into subscriber acquisition.
One thing is for sure, it certainly generated some confusion.
Centralized vs Decentralized Telecom
Unlike traditional telecoms such as AT&T and Verizon, Helium is a decentralized, blockchain-based wireless network.
Independent operators earn Solana-based HNT tokens for buying, installing, and maintaining wireless hotspots. This significantly reduces costs for Helium Mobile, as they avoid the CapEx (capital expenditures) typically required to deploy traditional network infrastructure.
In order to use the Helium network, mobile subscribers and carrier offload partners must first burn HNT tokens to mint USD-pegged Data Credits (DCs). For now, Nova Labs (the company behind Helium) handles the buying and burning of HNT on behalf of their customers, which does centralize the network to a degree.
Helium's growth in 2025 was significant by the way, with both Daily Active Users (DAU) and data offload numbers surging throughout the year. We covered Helium's ongoing network expansion in a previous article.
Major Revenue Sources
Helium Mobile - A budget-friendly (and centralized) mobile carrier that utilizes the decentralized Helium wireless network. Customers preferentially connect to community-run Helium WiFi hotspots, with fallback to T-Mobile.
Since Oct 20th of last year, 100% of revenue from Helium Mobile has gone to HNT token buybacks. That changed with the CEO's Friday announcement, indicating that whatever isn't used to pay for DCs will now go towards network growth.
Carrier Offload - Revenue collected from carrier partners such as AT&T and Movistar, which offload data onto Helium's community-run wireless hotspots. All revenue from carrier partners is still used to buy and burn HNT for DCs.
Paying Hotspot Operators
Independent hotspot operators earn new HNT emissions:
- For providing base network coverage (Proof-of-Coverage rewards)
- Additional HNT proportional to the amount of data that traverses their hotspot (around $0.50 per GB).
Aside from pure speculation on crypto exchanges, why does the HNT token have any value at all? Rather than just issuing tokens on a set schedule like Bitcoin, Helium implemented a novel tokenomics model called Burn-Mint-Equilibrium (BME).
The idea behind BME is that the supply of HNT adjusts based on real-world demand for the network. If a Helium Mobile subscriber or carrier partner wants to use a Helium hotspot, HNT tokens must first be burned for DCs. This ties network demand to token supply.
However, despite having used all of Helium Mobile's revenue to burn HNT since last October, the market hasn't responded positively. In fact, the token declined in price, causing the CEO to reverse October's buyback decision:
The price drop could be due to a number of factors however, not just low market demand. Since the major liquidation event of Oct 11th, the crypto market appears to be heavily manipulated, which could also be suppressing the value of the HNT token.
Stocks vs. Tokens
Several X users brought up that investors won't feel comfortable investing into Helium until the HNT token represents real equity rights in the company.
Rather than equity, I think we should focus on how blockchain enables us to move away from traditional corporations, which are often held back by outdated regulations. Instead, we should move towards unstoppable decentralized organizations, which don't fall under any geographic jurisdiction.
I think the goal should be to decentralize Helium as much as possible, to make it more resilient and self-sufficient without any single point-of-failure. For example, Helium Mobile subscribers and carrier partners should be incentivized to buy and burn HNT on their own, without relying on Nova Labs to act as an intermediary.
HNT tokens should be thought of as a stake in Helium's decentralized network and community. They allow the holder to participate in governance decisions that affect the outcome of the protocol, can be used to purchase DCs directly, and is a censorship-resistant form of money that could be used to buy goods and services in the future.
Until next time...
Similar to Bitcoin, it would be preferable if the entire network were self-sustaining based on token incentives. The network should be designed to survive even if Nova Labs disappears, just like how Bitcoin survived after Satoshi's departure. I understand it might take some time to get there.
For now, Nova Labs acts as a payment intermediary, centralizing the project to a degree. Redirecting Helium Mobile revenue to network expansion rather than token buybacks could spark growth, or it could further entrench Nova Labs as a single point-of-failure in the network.
If you learned something new from this article, be sure to check out my other posts on crypto and finance here on the Hive blockchain. You can also follow me on X or InLeo for more frequent updates.