HNT had an interesting 2021, but what will happen in 2022?
Contents
- From the Helium white paper
- Helium’s price history
- Charge upwards
- First halving and Dish hook up
- HNT price prediction
Helium enjoyed a successful year in 2021, with the blockchain venturing into 5G coverage and the HNT price ballooning to an all-time high in November. But what is next for Helium prices?
The idea for Helium tracks back to 2013 when its founders embarked on a mission to create a decentralised internet dubbed ‘The People’s Network’. Helium, which launched in 2019, pays users for hosting a Helium Hotspot. This payment is made in its native cryptocurrency, HNT.
After Helium revealed a new partnership with the major carrier Dish in October 2021, the HNT coin broke its previous price record. Has the network-based cryptocurrency managed to keep up the momentum?
From the Helium white paper
The ‘Helium: A Decentralized Wireless Network’ was published on 14 November 2018 and is 20 pages long.
The white paper offers a modern alternative to “current network solutions such as cellular, WiFi, and Bluetooth” stating that they “are suboptimal: they are too expensive, too power-hungry, or too limited in range.”
It goes on to say: “The Helium network is a decentralised wireless network that enables devices anywhere in the world to wirelessly connect to the Internet and geolocate themselves without the need for power-hungry satellite location hardware or expensive cellular plans.”
The document presents the Helium Consensus Protocol as: “Satisfying the design requirements of being permissionless, decentralised, byzantine fault-tolerant, based on useful work, and with a very high-rate censor proof transaction mechanism.”
Helium’s price history
The first Helium block was mined in July 2019, but it took over a year for the price to break through the $1 barrier. In August 2020, the HNT price saw a spike as it launched data credits, another token based on the Helium blockchain. Data credits is part of a dual token system, which means it can only be produced by burning HNT. The main use of data credits is to pay for using the Helium network.
The launch of data credits proved to be a valuable move for Helium. Following the announcement, the price jumped from $0.67 on 11 August to $1.77 on 15 August. This momentum continued into September, where the coin surpassed the $2 mark, as the ratio of data credits to HNT was updated in a Helium Improvement Proposal, known as HIP.
Another HIP was approved by the community in November 2020, which set a maximum supply limit for HNT of 223 million to ensure the scarcity of the currency. The update also introduced the concept of halving. A Helium halving takes place every two years and halves the amount of Helium that can be mined per month.
The HNT price had fallen below $1 on 31 October, but after the announcement of the supply changes, it saw another spike. The price reached $1.80 on 21 November, two days after the news was announced. It was just a taste of things to come.
Charge upwards
Last year was a bullish one for Helium. The price started to climb in January and surpassed $5 in March. Helium then passed another HIP on 14 April that allowed it to provide 5G coverage, making it the world’s first consumer-owned 5G network.
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Later that month, Helium revealed it was partnering with FreedomFi to start its 5G coverage. FreedomFi makes gateways, hardware designed to mine HNT and hotspot 5G coverage. Commenting on the news, the former head of the US Federal Communications Commission, Michael O’Rielly said: “Turning consumer gateways into network distribution tools and merging with ultra-hot cryptocurrency – consistent with the companies’ plans – may just be the step needed to help supercharge private 5G deployment. Now we get to see if the market agrees!”
The market did agree. After the 5G announcement, the HNT price skyrocketed to $18.66 on 6 April and hit $19.51 on 28 May. It settled below the $15 mark over the next two months, then passed the psychological $20 barrier in August.
First halving and Dish hook up
August proved to be an eventful month for the blockchain-based network. The first halving took place on 1 August, reducing the annual amount of mineable HNT from 60 million per year to 30 million. Ten days later, Helium revealed it had raised $111m (£80.23m) in fundraising in a token sale led by the American venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The new capital was expected to fund Helium’s 5G network rollout. It also boosted the Helium price so that by 31 August, HNT had reached $24.81.
Helium’s momentum carried on over the following months as it announced a partnership with network carrier Dish. The collaboration was revealed at the end of October and allows Dish subscribers to run Helium nodes and earn HNT for sharing the 5G network. The move was a big step for the blockchain, as Dish is the first major carrier to join its mission.
November was a spectacular month for the HNT price. On 1 November, the coin was priced at $28.26. From there, it accelerated upwards to reach its all-time high of $55.22 on 12 November. However, by 24 November, the HNT price was hovering around $43.
The price dropped further in December and saw lows of $26.03. The reduction was largely attributed to volatility across the crypto market, and bitcoin fell by 19%. By 24 January, the coin was valued at a 14-week low of $19.96.
However, there has been some price recovery, and by 8 February 2022, the coin was trading at $27.99.
Looking to the new year, is a 2022 price surge on the cards for the people-powered network?
HNT price prediction
The Helium coin price prediction varies depending on who you ask. The cryptocurrency exchange aggregator SwapSpace expects a long-term price increase and considers it a profitable investment. Its Helium price prediction said: “Overall, Helium cryptocurrency has a positive outlook and potentially will continue growing in the future.”
The HNT crypto price prediction from DigitalCoinPrice forecasts Helium to reach $39.91 by the end of the year. It expects highs in 2022 of $40.97 in October. Its HNT price prediction for 2025 is for the coin to reach an impressive average value of $58.76.
Gov Capital has an even more optimistic long-term outlook – its HNT price prediction 2022 is for the coin to break the $50 mark in early April of this year. It then expects the price to climb steeply, giving a staggering HNT price prediction of $935.27 in five years’ time.
PricePrediction.net also has optimistic projections, suggesting a maximum price for Helium of $46.42 in 2022, $147.49 in 2025 and a maximum of $1,034.86 for its HNT price prediction in 2030.
It might be. Although the HNT price predictions are mixed, there is a consensus that the coin will increase in value over the longer term. Remember, however, that predictions are often wrong, so you should always do your own research before purchasing cryptocurrency and never invest more than you can afford to lose. No matter what the forecasts say, prices can go down as well as up.
HNT’s value derives from the Helium network. Data credits pay for using the Helium network and are minted by burning Helium. This means Helium becomes rarer and more valuable as network use increases.
Potentially – there is a chance that HNT will rise. Forecasters have a largely positive sentiment.
If you do decide to invest in HNT, please conduct thorough due diligence and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
