Helium cleared by SEC as HNT market cap hits $480 million

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dismissed its lawsuit against Nova Labs, the company behind the Helium (CRYPTO:HNT) network, over allegations of unregistered securities offerings.

Helium shared the update in a blog post published on April 10.

The suit, originally filed in January 2025, was part of the SEC's final actions under former Chair Gary Gensler, who stepped down on January 20 following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

According to Helium, the case was dismissed "with prejudice," meaning similar charges cannot be filed again regarding the distribution of its HNT, IOT (CRYPTO:IOT), and MOBILE (CRYPTO:MOBILE) tokens.

“We can now definitively say that all compatible Helium Hotspots and the distribution of HNT, IOT, and MOBILE tokens through the Helium Network are not securities,” the company stated.

“The outcome establishes that selling hardware and distributing tokens for network growth does not automatically make them securities in the eyes of the SEC,” it further added.

Helium operates a blockchain-based wireless network and reports having around 375,000 active hotspots as of April 10.

Based on CoinGecko data, the HNT token has a market capitalisation of approximately $480 million, significantly lower than its peak of over $5 billion in November 2021.

The case's dismissal coincided with the appointment of Paul Atkins, a Trump nominee, who formally replaced Gensler as SEC Chair after a prolonged Senate confirmation process.

The Helium case follows a broader shift in SEC policy under the Trump administration.

According to reports, the SEC has dropped cases against other crypto firms including Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap.

Under Gensler’s leadership, the agency had pursued over 100 enforcement actions against Web3 developers for alleged securities law violations.

President Trump has promoted a more favorable stance toward digital assets, including appointing crypto-friendly figures to regulatory positions and proposing the creation of a national Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) reserve. 

At the time of reporting, the Helium price was $2.76.