What is the Helium Hotspot Network and is HNT a Good Investment?

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With thousands of cryptocurrencies available to trade, the route to making a solid investment choice and backing a winner has never been more difficult.

Sometimes a crypto’s developers will admit it’s a joke, just look at Dogecoin.

This ‘meme coin’ was created in 2013 and held little value. But this all changed virtually overnight in 2021 when the token was dragged into the limelight by Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

He gave the coin his blessing and said that he thought it was a better cryptocurrency than Bitcoin for transactions, causing a huge spike in the price.

Many other cryptos, however, claim to have a genuine use case which is often set out in a lengthy and whitepaper explaining why it’s the next big thing and will ‘disrupt’ the sector.

But the market is so saturated with projects that it’s sometimes difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, or pick the legitimate crypto projects from the not so worthy, or outright scams.

However, one project that does stand out is Helium, the so-called ‘people’s network’, and its HNT token.

What is the Helium Network and HNT cryptocurrency?

Helium is a peer-to-peer wireless network run by a rapidly growing group of enthusiasts spanning the entire globe.

Each participant has bought and set up a small ‘hotspot miner’ which runs as a node helping to power the Helium blockchain while providing bandwidth for IoT (Internet of Things) devices to use.

In return for this ‘work’, participants are issued with HNT rewards each time their miner successfully performs an action on the network.

To give you an idea of how many hotspots there are, take a look at this map:

At the time of writing there were 527,369 hotspots plugged into the network, representing exponential growth for this young project.

Part of this growth can be attributed to social media, specifically TikTok.

In 2021 there was a flurry of interest in Helium miners among users of the platform, driven mainly by the profits people were reportedly making by mining HNT (although some posters were shilling for referrals).

At the time, it was certainly possible to earn several hundred pounds/dollars a month if you had the right set up and location

But the rewards are lower now due to the growing number of participants which has diluted rewards, and a ‘halving’ in August 2021, which saw the amount of HNT minted per month drop from 5million to 2.5million.

The network runs on LoRaWAN combined with Helium LongFi – an alternative to Wi-Fi which allows devices to communicate up to 200x further.

Miners earn HNT when they’re involved in verifying network transactions, as well as other tasks that contribute to the network, through a Proof-of-Coverage algorithm.

Is it worth buying a Helium hotspot and how much HNT can I earn by mining?

What makes Helium so appealing to many is the low barrier to entry.

You can buy a hotspot from a range of suppliers for roughly £500 ($670) and have it up and running in your home in minutes via your smartphone.

That’s if you can get hold of one – at the time of writing all the major suppliers had sold out.

This was partly due to ongoing chip supply issues, but also shear demand which has been unrelenting for the best part of a year.

Once up and running, the theory is that your hotspot becomes a money minting machine earning you a passive income while it’s sat in the corner of your room, even after electricity costs.

While it is simple to set up, my experience of running a Helium mining hotspot suggests that the returns are overinflated and that keeping the miner running requires a more hands-on approach.

A realistic figure to aim for if you have a standard indoor miner which a 5db+ external ariel is around £100-£150 per month ($134-£201).

This can vary considerably though, especially as the network is still experiencing teething problems meaning earnings are sometimes lower or virtually non-existent.

The main ways of earning money with a Helium hotspot miner are:

• Witnessing a challenge
• Submitting challenges to the network
• Sending proof of coverage beacons
• Transferring data packets

Each piece of work is allocated a different percentage of earnings, with the most lucrative being data transfers and witnessing challenges.

Antenna positioning and height, together with the number of other miners in your ‘hexagon’ (location) competing for work all have a big impact on your earnings.

You need to have other hotspots relatively nearby to be in with a chance of earning any HNT.

Related link: Review – one month of running a Nebra Helium HNT hotspot miner

Helium’s use case and why it could be a good investment

According to the Helium whitepaper, the project is designed to ‘create a decentralised wireless network that enables devices to wirelessly connect to the internet and geolocate themselves without the need for power-hungry satellite location hardware or expensive cellular plans.’

You can read the full whitepaper here.

Helium is already used by some big names in the business world, include Salesforce and Lonestar Tracking.

In addition, crypto forecasters generally say the outlook for HNT as an investment is positive.

For example:

• Walletinvestor.com describes Helium as an “awesome” long-term investment.
• Gov.capital says Helium holds “a long-term earning potential”.
• Currency.com says that there is a “consensus” that HNT will increase in value over time.

Helium also employs a tokenomics principle of ensuring an adequate supply of HNT to the network, with a burn-and-mint process surrounding the data credits that it sells to those using the network. It also adheres to a net emissions policy which ensures there’s always enough tokens to reward hotspot operators.

While Bitcoin is limited to 21million tokens, there will only ever be 223,000,000 HNT minted. This relative scarcity compared to other cryptos should, in theory, help HNT increase in value over time.

HNT price prediction

If you’re wondering what the helium crypto price will be today, in 2025 or even 2030, most price prediction commentators are optimistic. For example:

Wallet Investor gives the following price predictions: 2023 – $200 per HNT coin, 2025 – $630 and 2027 – $730.

Gov.capital believes that by 2025 HNT could be worth around £450 per coin, with this set to rise to anywhere between $912-$1078 by 2027.

Price Prediction estimates a value of £131 per coin by 2025, with this rising to $824 by 2030.

Of course, crypto price predictions are notoriously inaccurate, and this applies equally to HNT.

It’s essential that you do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose as crypto prices are volatile and the Helium project could fail completely.

However, compared to other crypto projects which can often attract negative opinions, Helium garners widespread approval as a legit crypto worth watching.

Is it still worth buying a Helium hotspot to mine HNT?

Whether buying a Helium HNT hotspot miner is for you or not depends a lot on how you’re approaching the project.

If you’re simply in it to make a quick buck it might not be that profitable any more as the rewards are much less than when the project was first launched.

However, if the price predictions above prove to be accurate, then if you mine and ‘hodl’ your coins over the long term it could offer extremely healthy returns.

For some, it’s simple a hobby. There’s an enthusiastic community of DIYers populated by people who just want to participate and tinker, rather than speculate on the price of the crypto.

Some of the main suppliers of Helium hotspot mining hardware are:

• Nebra (UK based)
• RAK
• SyncroB.it
• Bobcat

If you’re looking to get a Helium miner fast, you’ll have to spend way over the odds and buy one from an online marketplace. Expect to pay 3x more than you would by ordering directly from the manufacturer.

If you do go down this road, ensure you’re buying a new piece of hardware and not one that has been previously registered elsewhere as you’ll face problems trying to get it set up.

In terms of which Helium miner is best – every unit on the market receives mixed reviews and it will often depend on your own specific set of circumstances, so do your research.

UK supplier Nebra has come in for a lot of criticism for failing to fulfil orders on time and a lack of communication with customers. The situation seems to have improved, and most orders have now been shipped, although there is now a long waiting list for a new generation of HNT miner released by the company.

How do I sell my HNT and can I use the Coinbase exchange?

At present only a limited number of crypto exchanges allow you to buy, sell or trade Helium HNT.

At the time of writing the markets supporting HNT were:

• Binance
• Gate.io

As the project continues to grow rapidly, it’s likely that more exchanges will add HNT, including Coinbase, which has been rapidly adding to its list of support coins.

Can I build my own Helium HNT miner?

No, you can’t build your own hotspot, even if you have the technical knowledge and are a DIY expert.

Only miners supplied by manufacturers approved by Helium will work on the network.

Helium 5G hotspot roll out

In 2022 Helium began rolling out a 5G network together with FreedomFi, which offers open 5G for all.

Conclusion

Helium seems like a legitimate project with one of the most genuine use cases I’ve seen.

The number of hotspots has risen astronomically over the past year, with no signs of it slowing down.

It’s clearly loved by many, attracted by the appeal of having a discreet box mining a crypto that could one day increase hugely in value.

While most crypto mining – especially Bitcoin – is no longer possible using consumer hardware, this is a way for the average person in the street to get involved.

If you’ve got £500 ($670) or so to spare to buy a hotspot then it might be worth a punt, especially if you’re in it for the long run.

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