Helium Network Reaches Major Milestone: 100K Global Hotspots
If you told me two years ago that the Helium Network would become the largest contiguous wireless network owned and operated by the people by 2021, I would have never believed you.
What launched in the city of Austin on August 1st, 2019, with only 150 of the original Helium Hotspots, has exploded into a remarkable open-source, decentralized ecosystem coming together across the globe to build something the world has never seen before.
Today marks an incredible milestone with 100,000 Hotspots now live on the Helium Network! Let that sink in — 100,000 Hotspots owned by individuals, creating wireless coverage around the world.
The community is adding over 1,000 Hotspots a day, with 108 countries and more than 10,000 cities now represented. You can watch the Network expanding live here.
To help further scale and secure the Network, 2,000+ Validators have come online in just the past month to perform the work of the Consensus Group, staking over 20 million HNT. Adding Validators is a massive improvement to the Helium blockchain since its inception and lays the foundation for introducing Light Hotspots.
With Coverage Comes Usage
And that’s not all. The global expansion of coverage enables an exponential increase in usage on the Network, with developers and businesses adding compatible LoRaWAN devices. We now have over 173 billion Data Credits per month spent by devices on the Network and thousands of use cases being deployed that solve tangible, real-world problems underpinned by blockchain technology.
There is a vast array of businesses already using the Helium Network, including a few of these highlights:
- Barnacle: Real-time package tracking
- Victor®: A better-connected mousetrap
- Airly: Global air quality sensors
- Nobel Systems: Smart parking application in cities
- NexMachina: Indoor & outdoor CO2 monitoring
- NOWi: Water leak detection sensors
- InfiSense: Smart agriculture & environmental data monitoring
We currently see the most usage traffic in top metro cities such as Los Angeles, Paris, and London. We anticipate seeing these trends continue in cities with dense coverage around the world.
Looking Forward
While we started on the mission of building a global ubiquitous wireless network to connect IoT devices, it has become clear that other wireless technologies need faster network buildout in all regions of the world, including 5G. Our hardware and software makers are integrating the Helium blockchain to different open standards such as Magma, a 5G and open-source wireless stack. Read more here.
Beyond 5G, Helium Improvement Proposal (HIP) 20 was approved by the community in November 2020, which introduced 2-year halvings for the issuance of HNT on the Network’s genesis anniversary. The first halving will take place on August 1st, 2021 and reduce the target goal for the issuance of HNT to 2.5M HNT per month. Looking forward, we will continue to see the community evolve the Network through the HIP process. Read more here.
The future will continue to advance wireless technology at a breakneck pace. We believe the future of building, owning, and operating networks is through a decentralized approach. We hope the Helium Network will be that standard to drive equity and ownership to the people.
A Community Effort 🙏
When we first pivoted to drive a two-sided marketplace, many investors told us that it would be a near-impossible task. It was challenging to drive a community of individuals to build a network, let alone convince enterprises to use this communal network. In just under two years, we’ve achieved so much.
None of this would be possible without the community. Our Discord of over 80K technical members, supporters, and especially our wonderful Moderators who volunteer their time to help the ecosystem. Thank you!
Building hardware is challenging. Those brave souls who are building Hotspots, relentlessly trying to work through all the hurdles with design, supply chain, e-commerce, and more. Thank you and hang in there.
Software and application makers who are crucial to demonstrating what’s possible on the Network, and giving users of all levels a chance to understand and leverage what we have collectively built. Keep it up.
The early customers who purchased the Helium Hotspot, not knowing what would happen, but had the same dream we did. Your belief in the mission has created a global aspiration to build a wireless network owned and operated by everyone.
Thank you all for your ongoing support and dedication.
Remember, this is your network, your applications, and your success. Together, we have built…
The People’s Network.
