Helium Network, a communications protocol, is planning to move to the Solana blockchain in an effort to improve its scalability and reliability. On March 27, the current Helium blockchain will be temporarily put on hold for twenty-four hours while the transfer is executed. During this time, proof-of-coverage and data transmission operations will not be affected. A working committee of community volunteers is being organized to manage the relocation process. After the transfer, all accounts and tokens will be moved to the Solana blockchain, and a final snapshot of the blockchain will be taken. Hotspots will also be created as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Token holders of HNT and MOBILE will not be required to take any action, while most Hotspot owners will also not need to do anything. The transfer was made possible by HIP-70, which received more than an 80% acceptance rate when it was voted on by the community on September 22, 2022. The move is expected to improve Helium’s native currency accessibility, mining, data transmission, and ecosystem support.
The Solana blockchain is a high-speed, low-cost blockchain that can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second. Oracles will be deployed to the Helium Network to ensure that current balances can be claimed and Hotspot owners have access to the new claim function. Following the upgrade, incentives that were minted as a result of proof-of-coverage actions carried out in the previous twenty-four hours may be redeemed for Helium Wallet tokens. Nova Labs, the company that developed Helium, partnered with T-Mobile in September 2022 to launch a crypto-powered mobile service that allows subscribers to earn crypto rewards for sharing data about the quality of coverage and identifying dead-spot locations across the country.