Helium (HNT)
Summary
Helium is a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) founded in 2013 by Amir Haleem, Shawn Fanning, and Sean Carey, operated by Nova Labs, Inc. The network incentivizes individuals to deploy wireless hotspots for IoT (LoRaWAN) and mobile coverage using its HNT token, which migrated to the Solana blockchain in April 2023. The project has a documented history of misrepresenting partner relationships to investors, resulting in a $200,000 SEC civil settlement in April 2025, but has demonstrated meaningful real-world usage growth through verified carrier data-offload partnerships with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Telefonica.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 3 more
Timeline(13 events)
2013-06-01
Helium, Inc. incorporated by Amir Haleem, Shawn Fanning, and Sean Carey.
Wikipedia / Contrary Research2017-01-01
Company pivots from conventional payment model to cryptocurrency-incentive model for hotspot operators.
Wikipedia2019-06-01
HNT token launched on proprietary Helium L1 blockchain; hotspot mining begins.
Helium Documentation2021-11-12
HNT reaches all-time high price of approximately $54–55, driven by speculative mining demand.
CoinMarketCap2022-03-31
Helium, Inc. rebrands to Nova Labs; announces $200 million Series D led by Tiger Global and a16z at $1.2 billion valuation.
Decrypt2022-07-29
Mashable and The Verge report that Lime and Salesforce deny active partnerships with Helium despite being listed as partners on the company website.
The Block2022-08-01
CEO Amir Haleem publicly responds, both logos removed from website; Nova Labs pledges written-approval-only partnership listings going forward.
Decrypt2022-09-27
Fortune reports Helium generated approximately $1,150 in IoT data revenue over 30 days, raising fundamental questions about network utility versus valuation.
Fortune2023-04-18
Helium Network fully migrates from proprietary L1 blockchain to Solana following community approval of HIP-70.
CoinDesk2024-06-18
Helium launches carrier data-offload program; AT&T, T-Mobile, Movistar, Google Orion, and WefiI subscribers begin offloading data to Helium hotspots.
Helium Mobile Carrier Offload FAQ2025-01-17
SEC files civil complaint against Nova Labs alleging investor misrepresentation (Nestle, Lime, Salesforce partnership claims) and unregistered securities sales of HNT, IOT, and MOBILE tokens.
SEC Enforcement Litigation Release / CoinDesk2025-01-01
HIP-138 adopted, consolidating tokenomics to a single HNT reward token and eliminating separate IOT/MOBILE emission streams.
Helium Blog2025-04-10
SEC and Nova Labs reach settlement: Nova Labs pays $200,000 civil penalty without admitting wrongdoing; SEC dismisses unregistered-securities claims against HNT, IOT, and MOBILE with prejudice.
CoinDesk / The DefiantDecision Log
- hash: 757BNqYsiHbEmTNJseuiGeWCxakkYjxKZBVC1rMEn3jn
- hash: 95q5SLLq4HUUmixA7S4j76MzecdH5P5Yx2aYvkwtWeqx
- hash: Hy5sg1d8JgXwQBmiWZw8XzKspRPiWW2FCmezu4CE7MTg
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 6/1/2026, 1:01:00 PM
last updated: 6/1/2026, 5:45:18 PM
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