After over a year of planning and development, Helium has successfully migrated to Solana, ushering in a new phase of reliability and scalability for decentralized wireless networks. This upgrade establishes a new era of scalability, expansion, and reliability for the world’s lar...
Overview of the Helium Network
The Helium Network was launched in 2019 with the mission of delivering a decentralized, open-source, accessible, and secure wireless network for the entire world. The foundation of the network was its own blockchain to incentivize the usage and expansion of a community-built wireless network. Helium is now the largest LoRaWAN network in the world, with almost one million Hotspots deployed since launch and coverage in more than 77,000 towns and cities in 192 countries. The Helium 5G network is also experiencing rapid growth, and the community has deployed more than 8,000 5G radios in less than a year.
Reasons for Migrating to the Solana Blockchain
Benefits of the Upgrade
Forget $0.35 transaction fees on the Helium Blockchain. On Solana, the average transaction fee is $0.00025. This means that users of the Helium Network can enjoy lower costs and faster transaction speeds, making it more accessible and efficient for everyone.
Solana boasts a highly liquid and diverse DeFi ecosystem. Owners of HNT, IOT, or MOBILE tokens can access more markets and provide liquidity in exchange for rewards on platforms such as Orca or Kamino. The open-source Helium Wallet app will also feature direct access to DeFi. This means that Helium Network users can benefit from the liquidity and opportunities offered by the DeFi ecosystem, providing more utility and value for HNT, IOT, and MOBILE token owners.
Conclusion
The migration of the Helium Network to the Solana blockchain marks a significant milestone in the evolution of decentralized wireless networks. The upgrade offers several benefits for network users and the community, including faster transaction speeds, new smart contract capabilities, lower costs, access to DeFi, and more. As the world’s largest LoRaWAN network, Helium is poised to continue its rapid growth and expansion, bringing new applications that create economic efficiencies and close the digital divide. The Helium Foundation and other contributing organizations can now direct more resources toward their shared goals of accelerating the growth of decentralized wireless networks.