Helium Migrates to Solana

Recently SOL has observed a notable surge of over 23% against the U.S. dollar. This boost came after the announcement of the Helium Network's decision to shift to the Solana blockchain. Along with Solana, Helium's token, HNT, faced a significant increase, soaring 25% in value in the past week.  

Here’s an official post from the Helium’s Twitter account uncovering the future migration to a new blockchain:

What’s interesting — Binance stated that it will remove HNT from its platform. Starting March 21, it will no longer be available for trading on Binance.US. According to the source, this decision was made following a comprehensive review of all the assets currently offered on the exchange.

However, this move from the crypto exchange doesn’t seem to upset the community of Helium that much considering the token’s price growth. Before going through the migration details, let’s remember what Helium is all about. 

The concept of Helium Network 

Helium is a decentralized wireless network that enables cheap, safe, and trustworthy communication between devices. It’s based on the principle of giving devices an opportunity to communicate with no need to rely on standard telecommunications backbone. 

The network utilizes a unique mix of blockchain, wireless protocols and IoT gadgets to create its infrastructure that’s open and accessible to everyone. The network operates with the help of HNT token, which incentivizes participants to improve and maintain the network. 

The project's primary use case is in the IoT space, however, it’s also exploited in several other spheres such as logistics, healthcare, and others to create safe and trusted communication networks. 

The important benefit of Helium is its low cost. The network uses long-range, low-power wireless protocols that allow it to transmit data over long distances using minimal energy. Thus, the price of maintaining and running the network is significantly lower than usual telecommunications infrastructure. 

The Helium Network gained popularity in the IoT and attracted the attention of several major players in the industry. With its unique approach, Helium is well-positioned to become a significant part of both IoT and telecommunications sectors.

Migration news 

Helium, which currently operates on layer-1 solution, said that it will be migrating to the Solana platform by March 27th. With nearly a million hotspots around the globe, covering both long range and 5G networks, this decision aims to assist the growth of decentralized wireless networks and aid the community of Helium in this endeavor. 

Helium asked its community members to get ready for the shift, saying that the transition to Solana will help them concentrate on developing wireless protocols and enhancing the operability of the networks. When the migration is done, HNT will be compatible with other platforms of Solana, thereby increasing its usefulness for HNT, MOBILE, and IoT token holders.

Check out some of the important points Helium devs mentioned in the post on Medium:

Update delay

According to Helium's post, there were some risks that could potentially cause a delay in the transition. Although the Helium core devs were pretty sure about the absence of risks, there were potential unknowns that could affect the process. The team wouldn’t proceed with the migration until they have eliminated these risks. The Helium team listed some reasons why a postponement might be inevitable: 

Unfortunately, the date of migration was really shifted by the team to April 18th:  

This decision was based on several factors. In order to ensure ample time for community readiness, necessary governance votes, additional testing, and operational improvements, the network postponed the migration until the upcoming month. 

SimpleSwap will monitor the situation for the updates and will surely notify you in case of any significant changes. Stay tuned with our Blog and wait for Helium's shift!