​Helium project will give away 1 million NFTs to celebrate the migration to Solana

What’s new? On April 19, representatives of the decentralized wireless network Helium reported the successful transition of the project to the Solana blockchain. After the integration, the team issues about 1 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As of April 20, 15:30 UTC, the project has already issued more than 332 000 NFTs, according to Flipside Crypto. Each of these tokens represents an access point for a network node, validators will be able to transfer NFTs or update their location.

Helium Blog

What is Helium? Helium Network launched in 2019. It is a decentralized, open-source wireless network that previously ran on its own blockchain. The project team works on decentralized telecommunications technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and is developing a network of hotspots that enable operation and communication for nearby IoT devices. Since launch, approximately 1 million hotspots have been deployed, covering more than 77 000 locations in 192 countries. Full coverage has been achieved in Lisbon, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Berlin, Sydney, and other cities.

Migration details. It took the team more than a year to prepare for the migration, and the initiative itself was approved by the project’s community. The migration to Solana will increase transaction speed and reduce cost and will expand smart contracting and scaling capabilities. Because developers will no longer have to support Layer 1 (L1) blockchain, the Helium Foundation, and other contributors will be able to devote resources to accelerating the growth of decentralized wireless networks and introducing new applications that can improve cost efficiencies, according to the blog.

After the transition, dynamic data pricing for data transmission will become available on the network based on regional demand and the concentration of access points in a particular region. Transaction fees will be reduced from $0,35 on Helium to an average of $0,00025 on Solana.

Helium ecosystem token holders, HNT, IOT, or MOBILE, can access more markets and provide liquidity in exchange for rewards on platforms like Orca or Kamino. The open-source Helium Wallet app will also have direct access to decentralized finance (DeFi) in the Solana ecosystem.

Previously, Helium hotspot owners received HNT tokens as rewards for supporting the decentralized network, but after the transition, they will receive IOT governance tokens. HNT, in turn, will remain an exclusive token for use on the network.

According to Noah Prince, Head of Protocol Engineering, the developers took a snapshot of the existing blockchain and transferred the necessary data and transactions to the Solana network. Solana blockchain co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko emphasized that the scalability, speed, and innovation of the network provide the only basis for Helium’s plans for decentralized networks and 5G.

In February 2022, Helium successfully completed a Series D funding round and raised $200 million from Tiger Global, Khosla Ventures, GV, Multicoin Capital, Munich Re Ventures, FTX Ventures, and FirstMark Capital. Investors said that Helium could become a springboard to the sustainable development of Web 3.0.

In October, crypto exchange Binance announced the delisting of several trading pairs with the HNT token. Scott Sigel, the chief operating officer for the Helium Foundation, said that Binance had no reason to make the decision. In his opinion, there has been no change in the integrity of HNT, the token continues to meet all the standards set by the exchange.