Key takeaways:
- Helium developers have published a proposal to move the network to Solana
- The proposal comes off the heels of rapid network growth, which has led to scalability problems
- The price of HNT decreased more than 14% in the last 24 hours
Helium developers are seeking move to Solana to accommodate “unprecedented growth”
Earlier this week, a group signed as “Helium Core Developers” proposed a radical change for the Helium network. Published on the GitBug repository on Wednesday, HIP 70: Scaling the Helium Network contains the motivation and an outline of the network’s proposed migration to the Solana blockchain.
The latest Helium Improvement Proposal (HIP) comes off the heels of “unprecedented growth” for Helium, which is quickly nearing 1 million hotspots deployed around the world. The developers said that due to the rapidly increasing number of users, most of their time had been spent on scalability improvements.
The developers said “Reliable Data Transfer activity” and “Reliable Proof-of-Coverage activity” are the two most important goals of the Helium Network. However, both primary objectives have been negatively impacted in the recent past due to increased network activity.
The move to Solana will see the launch of Proof-of-Coverage Oracles, which will reduce the complexity required for operating a blockchain that supports the Helium Network. “Through these actions, we believe we can allow for more reliable data transfer and more consistent and predictable Proof-of-Coverage activity,” noted the developers.
The developers also highlighted the fact that the migration to Solana would enable owners of Helium tokens – HNT, DC, IOT, and MOBILE – to use decentralized applications (dApps) deployed on the Solana network. The developers explained:
“Although there are some concerns, we believe that this is the best move forward in order to scale the network, align incentives to Hotspot owners, and enable HNT, IOT, and MOBILE holders more utility in the future.”
The voting will start on September 12 and end on September 18.
The price of Helium’s primary utility and rewards HNT token plunged by more than 90% to $4.7 since its November’s all-time high. The token lost 14% in the last 24 hours, likely due to the Solana migration proposal.
