To judge Helium's wireless network revenue, one number is enough: the amount of Data Credits (DC) burned by carriers to offload data from the Helium network. This is not a question that "total network nodes" or "coverage area" can answer. It is about whether someone is actually paying for the traffic being transmitted.
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Helium's economic model ties "token issuance" and "network usage" together. Understanding HNT burn and wireless network revenue means understanding what this binding relationship looks like in real data.
The Division of Labor Between HNT and Data Credits
There are two tokens on the Helium network, and their purposes are completely different.
HNT is the reward token. Hotspot hosts deploy and maintain wireless coverage and receive HNT in return. HNT migrated from Helium's own blockchain to Solana in April 2023. Its issuance follows a halving schedule every two years, with a maximum supply of about 223 million tokens.
Data Credits (DC) are the usage token. Any device that wants to transmit data on the Helium network needs to pay with DC. The price of DC is pegged to the US dollar, 1 DC = $0.00001. DC are non-transferable and can only be created by burning HNT. This is the core of the "Burn and Mint Equilibrium" mechanism: when network usage increases, more HNT is burned and supply decreases; when usage falls, fewer HNT are burned.
For users, the significance of this design is predictable costs. A company using Helium to track a vehicle fleet pays in DC, so costs do not change because of HNT market price fluctuations.
Who Is Paying: Carrier Offload Is the Main Revenue Source
The main body of Helium's wireless network revenue is Carrier Offload. Major mobile carriers in the United States route user traffic onto Helium's hotspot network to lower their own network costs, and they pay fees for this.
Looking at the financial data, this revenue is growing rapidly. In the first quarter of 2026, DC burn from Carrier Offload reached $3.56M, up 62.2% from $2.19M in the previous quarter. In the same quarter, Helium's HNT emission was worth about $2.45M, meaning sustainable revenue from carrier offload already exceeded token issuance, with a revenue-to-emission ratio of 145.1%.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, that ratio was 54.8%; in the third quarter it was 33%. The trend is clear: real network usage is catching up with and surpassing token incentives.
But there is another side to see. Helium's total revenue in Q1 2026 was $3.9M, down 25.6% from $5.2M in the previous quarter. The official explanation is that an "experimental self-burn program" had been terminated. This experiment was started by Helium Mobile in August 2025. It used 100% of subscription revenue to buy HNT on the market and burn it, testing whether "systematic buying + reduced issuance" could more tightly bind network usage and token value. The experiment generated $2.9M in burns in Q4, but the CEO announced a pause in January 2026, saying the focus should be on user growth and carrier offload.
So when looking at Helium's "wireless network revenue," you should look at DC burn from Carrier Offload, not total revenue that includes self-burn. The former is sustainable organic revenue from third-party payments; the latter includes an experiment that has already ended.
The Second Layer of Revenue: The Reality of the IoT Network
Helium originally started as an IoT network, and LoRaWAN coverage is its foundation. But from a revenue perspective, the IoT network's contribution is extremely small.
In Q1 2026, IoT network revenue was $22.1K, about 0.6% of Helium's total revenue. In Q4 2025, that number was $11.5K, and in Q3 it was $10K. Compared with the Mobile network's $3.9M in the same period, the gap is an order of magnitude.
This does not mean the IoT network is unused. In Q4 2025, the IoT subnetwork's average daily DC burn was about $124.77, while the Mobile network was $56,635. A large number of IoT devices may be running, but the data fees they generate are extremely low, or much usage still relies on early free or subsidized models.
If you care about "is anyone paying for wireless coverage," the answer is: the Mobile network has paying users and is growing quickly; the IoT network has almost no meaningful paid revenue.
Trends in Burn Data
Historical DC burn data shows the turning points in Helium's economic model.
Before Q3 2025, average daily DC burn was around $10,000. After Helium Mobile launched its self-burn experiment in August 2025, average daily burn jumped to the $30,000-$50,000 range, reaching a daily average of $56,760 in Q4.
By the end of 2025, cumulative DC burn totaled $11.4M. This number is very small on the scale of the traditional telecom industry, but it is visible within the DePIN sector.
Q1 2026 data shows that after excluding self-burn, DC burn from Carrier Offload was $3.56M, or about $39,500 per day, up 62% from the organic portion in Q4 ($2.19M). The driver of growth was carriers increasing traffic offload in more regions.
How Much Deployers Can Actually Earn
If you are considering deploying a hotspot or joining existing Wi-Fi through Helium Plus, the income reference standards were updated in 2026.
HIP-149 set a target minimum income: for every GB of data, deployers receive at least $0.05. Even if the HNT price falls, the protocol will make up the difference from already-burned HNT. This "safety net" does not mint new HNT; it only redistributes the portion that has already been burned.
HIP-150 further raised the target minimum from 50% of carrier payments to 80% (on a one-year trial, with the second year already pre-authorized), and introduced multiplier rewards for high-traffic venues. Places like airports and stadiums have much higher traffic than ordinary locations, and deployers can receive up to a 5x reward multiplier, or up to $0.50 per GB.
The meaning of these rules is that deployer income no longer depends entirely on the market price of HNT, but has a floor tied to carrier payments. However, it should be noted that the target minimum in HIP-149 is not an absolute guarantee. If the HNT price falls quickly, the top-up may lag by one to two weeks.
Misreadings to Avoid When Judging Helium Revenue
Do not use "daily active users" to judge revenue. Helium had more than 1.5 million daily active users in early 2026, but user numbers do not directly equal revenue. Data traffic from Helium Mobile subscribers and carrier offload traffic are different in payment mechanisms.
Do not use "network-wide coverage" to judge revenue. Wide coverage does not mean someone is paying. Many hotspots may only provide proof of coverage (PoC) to earn HNT rewards without any actual paid traffic.
Distinguish "revenue" from "token issuance." Helium's HNT emission itself is not revenue; it is an incentive cost. To look at revenue, look at DC burn, especially DC burn from Carrier Offload.
Pay attention to the time window. Q4 2025 data is inflated because it includes the self-burn experiment. Q1 2026 is a cleaner baseline for organic revenue. Align the scope when making comparisons.
Helium's wireless network revenue is currently in a state of small scale but growing, with an improving structure. Carrier offload has moved from experiment to sustainable growth, and HNT burn is beginning to catch up with and exceed issuance. But IoT network paid revenue is almost negligible, and overall revenue volume is not on the same order of magnitude as traditional telecom operators. To judge whether it is improving, watching the quarterly DC burn growth rate of Carrier Offload and its ratio to HNT emission is more meaningful than watching price or user numbers.
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References
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- KuCoin·How Does Helium (HNT) Work, published or updated: 2026-06-15; accessed: 2026-10-13.
- Blockworks·Helium Investor Relations Report Q1 2026, published or updated: 2026-04-01; accessed: 2026-10-13.
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- Helium·HIP-150: Higher Earnings for Deployers, published or updated: 2026-09-03; accessed: 2026-10-13.
- KuCoin·什麼是氦氣（HNT）, published or updated: 2026-06-25; accessed: 2026-10-13.
