Helium community votes to migrate to Solana, scores new T-Mobile partnership
An overwhelming majority of Helium’s (HNT) community has voted to migrate the wireless network to layer1 blockchain Solana (SOL).
According to available information, the HIP 70 proposal received 6,177 votes (81.41%) in support of its plan, while 1,270 were against it.
The vote ended in the early hours of Sept. 22, and roughly 15 million HNT tokens were staked during the voting process.
Helium developers said the Solana migration would help scale the network and boost its adoption instead of expending resources on managing their blockchain.
With the proposal passed, Helium tokens — HNT, IOT, and MOBILE— would be issued on the Solana blockchain. The network will also update its wallet, and users can use Solana-based wallets for their HNT tokens.
Meanwhile, despite the planned migration to Solana, the developers have said Helium’s blockchain history will remain public.
Reports had revealed that the proposed migration had divided Helium’s community as some members requested that the network includes other blockchain networks in the proposal.
Helium scores new partnership
Helium developers Nova Labs announced a new five-year partnership with T-Mobile to create a new 5G wireless service called Helium Mobile on Sept. 21.
Reports revealed that Helium Mobile would be targeted at dead 5G spots in the United States for wireless network users.
According to the developers, network subscribers could also earn crypto rewards.
The project would be launched in the first quarter of 2023, and subscription plans would start at $5 per month.
The Nova Labs team said the new Helium Mobile network could be described as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) or crypto carrier.
Nova Labs CEO Amir Haleem said:
“Our new agreement with T-Mobile gives our subscribers nationwide 5G coverage and enables us to offer mobile products and services that use both networks.”
Helium price spikes
Helium’s HNT has seen its price spike by 2% within 24 hours to $4.72. Its value has grown by roughly 12% over the last seven days
