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Helium Network Grows Amid Market Slump: 20% Increase in IoT Hotspots

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In the fourth quarter, Helium’s native token, HNT, saw a 20% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) decline in circulating market capitalization, falling from $1.3 billion to $1.0 billion. The token’s price dropped by 22%, decreasing from $7.54 to $5.88.

Despite the market downturn, the Helium network continued expanding.

Growth in Hotspot Adoption

According to Messari’s report, Helium Mobile saw its number of hotspots grow by 14% QoQ, reaching 24,800 from 21,800. Helium Mobile’s unlimited plans remain significantly cheaper than the three-figure costs typical of US telecom providers.

The service also introduced the Discovery Mapping feature, rewarding users in HNT for sharing location data. However, since February 4, these incentives have shifted to Cloud Points, a change expected to be detailed further in the Q1 report.

Beyond growth in adoption, Helium Mobile demonstrated its utility during Hurricane Helene in North Carolina at the end of September. Messari revealed that while the disaster left many without electricity and water, Helium hotspots remained operational, providing 5G coverage. The team also distributed emergency kits, including Starlink devices, to support affected communities.

Helium’s IoT network also expanded in Q4, with hotspots growing by 20% QoQ. Since the network’s migration to Solana in early 2023, 33,000 hotspots have been onboarded, several thousand of which were contributed by gamers. This brought the total number of hotspots to over 375,000, up from 342,000 pre-migration. However, while infrastructure growth has been rapid, demand has not yet matched supply, as per the data analytics company’s findings.

Data Credits (DCs) are used to cover onboarding fees – such as the $10 cost to register a hotspot – but data transfer usage remains low, with daily DC burns limited to a few hundred dollars. As a result, Helium has successfully deployed LoRaWAN connectivity infrastructure but has yet to generate significant network demand.

Past Controversies

Helium’s founders and associates allegedly hoarded a significant portion of early token rewards. According to CryptoPotato’s report back in 2022, insiders were claimed to have mined millions of HNT tokens, worth $250 million at its peak, while the public was left with a fraction.

During the same period, Helium faced backlash after claiming Lime, the rideshare company, as a key client. Helium stated that Lime used its service to geolocate e-scooters. The partnership was highlighted on its website and in media coverage. However, Russell Murphy, Lime’s Global Communications Director, clarified that the relationship was limited to a 2019 test.

Prior to this, Cloud computing giant Salesforce Salesforce also denied any partnership, which prompted Helium to remove their logos.

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Cronos (CRO) Surges 11% After SEC Closes Crypto.com Investigation

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Cronos (CRO) has seen a significant uptick of nearly 11% over the past 24 hours, as it briefly surged above $0.11 on March 28th. While it has currently stabilized at around $0.10, the latest price action has pushed its weekly gains to nearly 40%.

This rise in CRO’s value comes on the heels of a major development involving Crypto.com, the parent company behind the cryptocurrency.

SEC Ends Probe into Crypto.com

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially closed its investigation into the crypto exchange and has informed the company that no enforcement action would be taken against it.

This marks a major moment after months of tension between the two entities. In October 2024, Crypto.com filed a lawsuit against the SEC after receiving a Wells notice, which indicated the regulator’s intent to sue the platform for operating as an unregistered broker-dealer and securities clearing agency.

The lawsuit argued that the SEC had unlawfully extended its jurisdiction and imposed an overreaching rule classifying nearly all crypto transactions as securities trades, regardless of how they were sold. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek publicly condemned the regulator’s actions and called for an end to its overreach.

However, by December 2024, Crypto.com dropped its lawsuit, a month after the re-election of Donald Trump as US President. The SEC, under the Biden administration, had previously targeted various cryptocurrency companies, including Kraken, Coinbase, and Uniswap, with enforcement actions and lawsuits. However, after Trump returned to office, the legal landscape for crypto companies shifted dramatically, with many cases being shut down.

Following the development, Nick Lundgren, Chief Legal Officer of Crypto.com, accused the SEC of weaponizing and attempting to expand its congressionally granted power to harm an industry that its former chair “disfavored.” The exec even went on to add,

“It is unfortunate that we were forced to endure this years-long investigation and file our own suit against the SEC to protect the rule of law. Compliance and integrity are core to Crypto.com’s business and we are excited to work with soon-to-be-confirmed Chair Atkins and the rest of the Commission on our long-awaited desire for legislation and rulemaking.”

Backlash Over Re-Issuance of 70 Billion CRO Tokens

Crypto.com was recently under fire for the re-issuance of 70 billion CRO tokens, which sparked fierce criticism from the crypto community. For instance, ZachXBT, a prominent blockchain investigator, accused the company of betraying its users, and claimed the move was no different from a scam. This controversial decision resurrected tokens that had been burned in 2021 to decrease the total supply.

Critics argue that it goes against the community’s wishes for decentralization and transparency, with reports indicating that Crypto.com’s validators control a large portion of the voting power. Despite this, Marszalek defended the decision, stating that it was necessary to support the company’s growth strategy.

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Here’s What Can Restart Ripple’s (XRP) Bull Run: Analyst

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TL;DR

  • Ripple finally got the news it had anticipated for over four years, but the price impact on XRP has been little to no.
  • A popular analyst on X outlined what needs to happen for the asset to kickstart its bull run, but XRP is not very close to it now.

$2 or $3 Next?

The price movements from XRP in the past several weeks have been quite underwhelming aside from a few brief spikes after Brad Garlinghouse’s announcement in mid March as well as when Trump mentioned it to be potentially included in the States’ strategic crypto reserve.

As of now, XRP struggles at $2.25 after a 4% daily decline. This is far off the $3.4 local peak reached in mid January, ahead of Trump’s inauguration, when the cryptocurrency came just 1% away from breaking its 2018 all-time high.

Despite the hype, the regulatory changes, the SEC lawsuit conclusion, and everything in between, XRP has not only failed to remain above $3 but it has lost its position as the third-largest digital asset to Tether’s USDT. With its price now sitting 33% lower than this cycle’s high, Ali Martinez outlined what needs to happen for XRP to restart its bull run.

To invalidate the current head-and-shoulders pattern, Ripple’s cross-border token needs to surge past $3, which seems like a distant target now.

In contrast, Martinez highlighted $2 as a critical support level that needs to hold; otherwise XRP risks dumping toward $1.25.

What’s Holding XRP Back?

As CryptoPotato recently reported, everything seems to be going Ripple’s way. It’s not just the SEC lawsuit ending, or the hype around a potential US-based spot XRP ETF, or the friendlier administration. There’s more as the company considers an IPO while it also racks up new partnerships.

However, XRP has failed to feel the positive impact in terms of price actions. It is closer now to the $2 support than the $3 resistance. Trading volumes have declined as even whales seem to be sitting on the sidelines, unlike what happened after the US elections.

This could all be attributed to the overall market stagnation and the global economic uncertainty prompted by Trump’s controversial actions ever since he took office. Or, there could be more to the story that is yet to be unveiled to the public.

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PI Token Jumps While Crypto Market Bleeds – What’s Fueling its Sudden Surge?

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TL;DR

  • Pi Network’s native token has defied the overall crypto market trend today as its price has risen by 4% since yesterday and has defended the $0.8 support.
  • PI’s community quickly picked up the positive price actions, which came after weeks of consecutive retracements, and outlined bullish predictions.

Less than a week after its official launch on February 20, PI skyrocketed to a fresh all-time high at $3 on February 26. However, its momentum quickly evaporated, and the asset went south hard.

In the following month, PI plunged by over 70% and dumped to under $0.75, which many analysts highlighted as an important support zone that could lead to a price reversal.

This seems to be the case so far, as PI has risen by over 14% since that local bottom. On a daily scale alone, the asset is up by 4.1%, according to data from CoinGecko.

PI Token Price. Source: CoinGecko
PI Token Price. Source: CoinGecko

Although 4% doesn’t sound like much, especially when considering its overall crash in the past month, it’s particularly impressive given the fact that almost the entire crypto market is in the red today. BTC is down below $86,000 once again, while alts such as DOGE, LINK, SHIB, DOT, APT, and ICP have dropped by over 5%.

PI’s growing community praised the price reversal, and some projected an immediate surge to $1.2. Others highlighted the growing trading volume, which could be considered a good sign as well in an environment of low activity in the broader market.

Perhaps what’s most bullish in regards to PI’s price movements is the fact that the token’s exchange deposits have slowed down to roughly a million, compared to the massive numbers registered over the past month.

At one point, there were over 300 million PI tokens transferred to centralized exchanges, which increases the selling pressure immediately.

Certain positive developments are also happening in the Pi Network ecosystem, such as Telegram wallet integration for PI. You can find more on the matter in our frequent Pi Network News section.

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