Welcome back to the DePIN Hub Newsletter, where our plan involves zero tariffs; just full uptime 💰
Helium’s back.
With a $50M deployer grant and WiFi hotspots pulling in $30/day from real usage, the pivot is working, and it’s a huge moment for builders.
We at Hotspotty want to do what we’ve always done best: help you deploy smarter. Faster. And with a team that’s actually got your back.
But to get there, we’ll need your brain for a bit. 🧠
🔍 Inside this must-read post:
- What’s changed in Helium
- What Hotspotty does well for you
- What we could build next, together
So if you’re running WiFi hotspots (or thinking about it), read on—because this might be your fastest path to earning $900/month from real data traffic. ✅
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Feature
MHGA: Make Hotspotty Great Again! 🚀
Help us shape the next era of Helium deployments.
TL;DR: Helium’s WiFi pivot is working, and we want to make sure Hotspotty works just as well for the builders powering it.
If you’re deploying (or planning to), tell us what you need — and you might just get rewarded for it.
Helium’s heating up again. And this time, it’s different.
The pivot to WiFi has unlocked a new wave of real-world usage for the Helium network.
With Helium Mobile growing fast and users actively offloading traffic through local hotspots, we’re finally seeing what this infrastructure can do at scale.
That’s why we’re writing today. Not because we’ve relaunched anything flashy, but because we want to talk. We’re here to reconnect with the builders like you.
If you’re deploying Helium WiFi right now, we want to know what you need next.
From CBRS chaos, to WiFi that works
In Helium’s early 5G chapter, the network attempted to scale using CBRS, a shared 3.5 GHz wireless band regulated by the FCC. The idea was ambitious: anyone could deploy their own mini cell tower and earn rewards for offloading mobile data. 📶
However, in practice, CBRS was too expensive, too regulated, and way too complex to deploy at scale. You needed FCC registrations, SAS (Spectrum Access System) approvals, and specialized hardware that cost thousands.
So in 2024, Helium pivoted to WiFi, and that changed everything.
How? Let’s look at what’s happening:
✅ Helium Mobile has over 1 million usersThat’s a real carrier with real subscribers. Not a testnet.
✅ NYC Helium Mobile users offload 40% less to T-MobileAccording to internal dashboards shared by the Helium team, users in dense WiFi areas like NYC are now sending a significant chunk of their mobile traffic through Helium community hotspots—not the legacy networks.
✅ Top WiFi hotspot deployers are earning over $30/dayThis revenue isn’t from token inflation. It’s based on actual usage and traffic. That’s a big deal.
✅ A $50 million grant program is liveNova Labs, the team behind Helium Mobile, is subsidizing up to 50% of WiFi deployment costs in strategic regions across the U.S. and Mexico. This is a clear signal: they want more coverage, now.
Essentially, things are looking up and up for Helium. Now is the time to start watching again.
What Hotspotty nailed, and still does best
We built Hotspotty during Helium’s first boom to make scaling deployments easier. Back then, you needed a way to:
- Coordinate with hosts
- Track fleet deployments across regions
- Automate revenue splits
- Visualize and plan network coverage
So we built it, and it worked: over 400,000 hotspots~ were deployed with Hotspotty's help. We backed up Helium’s original blockchain, built the first third party map explorer, and became one of the earliest major contributors to the ecosystem.
Even now, the core features (such as fleet and host management) remain useful.
Why we haven’t caught up to WiFi (we’ve got a giant crush on you!) 😉
We haven’t “revamped” Hotspotty yet. We haven’t built a shiny WiFi dashboard or launched any major upgrades. Why?
Because we didn’t want to guess.
The truth is, most of the current Helium WiFi growth is happening in the U.S. — and we’re not there. We could’ve tried to predict what deployers needed and built in a vacuum, but that’s never how Hotspotty worked.
We’ve always built with the community, not just for it. That’s why we’re reaching out now.
If you're:
- Already deploying Helium WiFi hotspots
- Planning to apply for the grant
- Working with hosts, storefronts, or public venues
…then we want to talk to you.
What tools would actually help you deploy smarter? What are you doing manually today that could be streamlined? What’s still broken?
Tell us. We’re ready to build more — based on what you really need.
Need some ideas? 💭
We’re not here to reinvent the wheel. We’re here to make sure the wheel actually turns — for WiFi.
Hotspotty already handles deployer operations like a champ: fleet-level planning, host CRM, contact tracking, shared dashboards, and payout coordination. What we want to do now is make sure all of that flows seamlessly for Helium WiFi deployments.
To help you think about what’s possible, here are some practical ways Hotspotty could step in:
- Map actual offload traffic to your individual hotspots
- Differentiate between fixed WiFi earnings and speculative HNT income
- Fully manage your host network: contacts, agreements, payout splits, and hotspot status — all in one place
What would make your job easier? We’re all ears.
So listen, let’s Make Hotspotty Great Again — together!
Hotspotty was built to help deployers scale, and we still believe in that mission. But scaling looks different today. It’s not about speculative proof-of-coverage maps. It’s about real WiFi, in real places, for real users.
We’re serious about this moment. But we need your help.
📎 Fill out this short survey to tell us what you're working on, what’s missing and what we should build next:
Let’s shape this next chapter together. We’ll make sure the tools we build actually serve the people building the future of wireless. 📶
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Parting Words 👋
‘Spotty’s back, tell a friend 🔥
