The Helium Network Token | Helium Documentation
The Helium Network Token (HNT) is the native cryptocurrency and protocol token of the Helium Network. The first HNT was emitted on July 29th, 2019. There was no pre-mine of HNT before the launch of the Network.
The Helium network migrated from its own purpose-built blockchain to the Solana Blockchain on April 18, 2023. The mint address for HNT is hntyVP6YFm1Hg25TN9WGLqM12b8TQmcknKrdu1oxWux on the Solana blockchain.
HNT Usage
HNT serves the needs of the two primary parties in the Helium Ecosystem:
- Hotspot Hosts and Operators. Hosts are rewarded in HNT network tokens while deploying and maintaining network coverage. Operators, and some network mappers are also rewarded in HNT.
- Enterprises and Developers use the Helium Network to connect devices and build Network applications. Data Credits, which are a $USD-pegged utility token derived from HNT, are used to pay transaction fees for wireless data transmissions on the Network.
HNT Token Economic Concepts
The Network uses three token economic concepts to ensure HNT supply is both plentiful for usage needs and relatively scarce, with a known maximum.
Max Supply
The Network targeted the distribution of 5,000,000 HNT per month at launch. Following the community approval of HIP-20, the Network uses a two-year halving schedule, resulting in an initial maximum HNT supply of 240,000,000 HNT, but slow blockchain times in year 1 resulted in an issuance that was ~17,000,000 HNT less than the schedule targeted. Thus, at the time HIP 20 was approved, max supply had decreased to ~223,000,000 HNT.
| Year | Year Start | HNT at Year Start | Target HNT Emission |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 1st, 2019 | 0 | 60,000,000 |
| 2 | August 1st, 2020 | 60,000,000 | 60,000,000 |
| 3 | August 1st, 2021 | 120,000,000 | 30,000,000 |
| 4 | August 1st, 2022 | 150,000,000 | 30,000,000 |
| 5 | August 1st, 2023 | 180,000,000 | 15,000,000 |
| 6 | August 1st, 2024 | 195,000,000 | 15,000,000 |
| 7 | August 1st, 2025 | 210,000,000 | 7,500,000 |
| 8 | August 1st, 2026 | 217,500,000 | 7,500,000 |
| 7 | August 1st, 2027 | 225,000,000 | 3,750,000 |
| 8 | August 1st, 2028 | 228,750,000 | 3,750,000 |
Burn and Mint Economics
Data Credits (DC) are a $USD-pegged utility token derived from HNT and is used to pay fees on the Helium Network. DC is only produced by burning HNT. This HNT to DC relationship is based on a design commonly called a burn and mint equilibrium and intends to allow for the supply of HNT to respond to network usage trends.
Net Emissions
As the halving schedule progresses, it is possible that the HNT minted per epoch is not sufficiently divisible for data transfer rewards. Therefore, in order to ensure that miners are incentivized to continue transmitting data and ensure a healthy, robust network, the Net Emissions mechanism was instituted in August 2021.
Net Emissions give the protocol enough HNT for rewards in perpetuity by monitoring the number of HNT burned in a given epoch and adding that to the number of HNT to mint that epoch. Because HNT produced via Net Emissions do not add to the total outstanding, they do not violate max supply.