- Helium’s HNT has gained 90% in the past week to hit a one-month high as daily trading volume surged past $20 million for the first time this year.
- Data shows that social engagements have almost doubled in that time as the crypto market’s interest in DePIN continues to rise.
The crypto market started the new week on a dip, with most tokens recording over 4% in price drops, as we reported. However, Helium is bucking the trend and over the past seven days, its token, HNT, has shot up nearly 90%, with its other network metrics also recording significant rises.
HNT trades at** $1.55** at press time, an 89% rise in the past seven days. In the past 24 hours, it has gained 33% to push its market cap to $285.6 million. Trading volume has also more than doubled in that time to hit $28.43 million. In the past month, no other crypto in the top 200 has recorded higher gains.
Helium’s rise goes beyond the price charts. According to LunarCrush, its social engagements are up 85% over the past week as decentralized physical infrastructure networks, better known as DePIN, takes center stage in the crypto circles.
Helium social engagements are up 85.03% while $HNT price has jumped 59.1% over last week.
What’s everyone talking about? DePIN network growth. Helium’s network is experiencing significant growth in active hotspots and data transfer, indicating real-world usage and infrastructure… pic.twitter.com/hTt9SR9xbO
— LunarCrush (@LunarCrush) February 16, 2026
Amir Haleem, one of the founders of Nova Labs, the company behind Helium, further revealed that the project has become of the most deflationary in crypto, burning more HNT tokens than it produces daily. According to data from Blockworks, the project has been burning more than it mints since November last year, with a few days as exemptions. On February 14, it minted just over 22,000 HNT tokens, but burned 46,000.
Source: Blockworks
As we previously reported, Helium partnered with AT&T last year to boost mobile connectivity with over 90,000 decentralized wireless hotspots.
Helium’s Rise as DePIN Explodes
Helium’s recent momentum comes at a time when decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) is receiving rising interest in the crypto sector. The current DePIN market cap stands at $8.5 billion, with Bittensor, Render, Filecoin and The Graph among the biggest projects.
DePIN decentralizes the ownership and operation of infrastructure like telecom towers and cloud servers, allowing anybody to contribute and earn revenue, rather than relying on a few centralized players.
With Helium, users install wireless hotspots in their homes and provide the connection to other users, with a focus on low-powered IoT (LoRAWAN), to earn HNT rewards. The network expanded support to 5G and other networks in 2021-22, partnering with companies to deploy cellular hotspots.
The expansion has made Helium one of the crypto projects with the highest number of non-speculative users. On Valentines’ Day, it recorded nearly three million users, processing over 114 terabytes of data and generating over $50,000 in real-world revenue.
Nearly 3M phones connected to Helium.
114 TB of Network traffic (5.7 trillion ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ texts) 💌 pic.twitter.com/UhxowRD0AS
— Helium🎈 (@helium) February 14, 2026
Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third parties and does not represent the views or opinions of Gate. The content displayed on this page is for reference only and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Gate does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information and shall not be liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Virtual asset investments carry high risks and are subject to significant price volatility. You may lose all of your invested principal. Please fully understand the relevant risks and make prudent decisions based on your own financial situation and risk tolerance. For details, please refer to
Disclaimer.
Related Articles
XRP Golden Cross Signals Strength as Price Diverges Below $1.40
XRP exhibits a golden cross on a four-hour chart but faces short-term price declines, with resistance at $1.40 capping gains. Despite weakened trading volume and broader market pressure, strong institutional demand supports its long-term outlook.
CryptoNewsLand10m ago
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the first batch of stablecoin licenses today, with CFX up 7.5% intraday.
Gate News message: On April 10, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will announce today at 5:00 p.m. the list of the first stablecoin issuer licensees. Driven by expectations of regulatory positives, Conflux (CFX) surged strongly in the short term. According to market data from a certain trading platform, CFX opened today at $0.0518, and the intraday high reached $0.0557. The gain for the day was 7.5%.
GateNews19m ago
Bitcoin Breaks Through $72,000: The Iran–Israel ceasefire boosts risk assets, with $427 million in short positions liquidated, but Polymarket shows disagreement on end-of-year outlook
Bitcoin broke through $72,000 on April 10, mainly due to a fragile ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran that boosted market risk appetite, with funds flowing from safe-haven assets into Bitcoin. Increased institutional inflows and a rebound in Large Investors’ holdings are driving the price higher. Technical analysis shows that the main resistance lies in the $72,200 to $73,500 range. Despite a bullish outlook in the short term, there is still disagreement over forecasts for Bitcoin’s price by year-end, and the risk of a pullback also needs to be watched.
ChainNewsAbmedia1h ago
TAO (Bittensor) down 16.28% over the past 24 hours
Gate News message, on April 10, according to Gate market data, as of the time of publication, TAO (Bittensor) is trading at $269.80, down 16.28% over the past 24 hours. It reached a high of $341.10 and fell to a low of $248.60. The 24-hour trading volume is $14.71 million. The current market cap is approximately $2.59B.
Bittensor is an open-source protocol that supports a decentralized, blockchain-based machine learning network. Machine learning models train collaboratively and earn rewards in TAO based on the value of the information they provide to the collective. TAO also enables external access, allowing users to extract information from the network and adjust network activity according to their own needs.
---
Key recent news about TAO:
1️⃣ **
GateNews2h ago
The Strait of Hormuz is open! Iran demands tolls be paid in Bitcoin, and the Persian Gulf still has “big ships”
The Iranian government charges oil tankers a $1 per-barrel toll for passage through the Strait of Hormuz and requires payment in bitcoin to bypass U.S. sanctions. This move has caused extreme volatility in the cryptocurrency market, with bitcoin’s price surging, highlighting the importance of digital assets in geopolitics. Global shipping has been disrupted, Iran and the United States have taken differing positions in ceasefire talks, and financial markets have also roiled in response to this event.
CryptoCity2h ago
Bitcoin sees over 27k options contracts expire! Analyst: Bear market characteristics continue to dominate
According to Greeks.live data, April 10 saw BTC and ETH options expire. For BTC options, the number of contracts was 27,000, the Put/Call Ratio was 0.71, and the maximum pain point was $69,000. For ETH, it was 151,000 contracts, and the Put/Call Ratio was 0.77. The analysis indicates that market characteristics are skewed bearish, and falling implied volatility suggests the market expects less short-term volatility. Despite the recent rebound, internal momentum in the market has not formed, and no clear sentiment shift has been observed.
MarketWhisper2h ago
