The Solana (SOL)-based decentralized wireless network crypto project, Helium (HNT), is experiencing a significant upturn after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped a lawsuit against the protocol. The development team of HNT shared the news on social media platform X, stating that the regulatory agency has dismissed its lawsuit against the cryptocurrency platform, which had alleged violations of securities laws.
According to the press release, Helium’s developer Nova Labs has agreed to settle the accusation with the SEC by making a payment of $200,000, without admitting any wrongdoing. The news of the lawsuit’s dismissal led to an immediate rally for HNT, with the token climbing from a low of $2.62 on April 10th to a peak of $3.03 the following day. The token has since settled at $2.96, marking a 9.9% increase over the last 24 hours.
The SEC had initially filed the lawsuit in January, accusing Nova Labs of distributing unregistered securities. However, the agency has now agreed to dismiss these claims with prejudice. The development team has declared this to mean that the Helium Hotspots and the distribution of HNT, MOBILE, and IOT tokens through the Helium Network are not considered securities. Furthermore, the SEC is now barred from bringing the same charges against Helium in the future.
Helium has hailed the dismissal of the case as a “landmark outcome” for the entire digital assets industry and the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) technology, which tokenizes real-world infrastructure.
In a recent blog post, the team stated that, “This landmark outcome is a pivotal turning point for the Helium community and the entire crypto industry, removing legal uncertainty for DePIN projects that use crypto incentives to build real-world infrastructure.”
With the dismissal of the SEC’s unregistered securities claims with prejudice, the outcome establishes that selling hardware and distributing tokens for network growth does not automatically classify them as securities in the eyes of the SEC.
This is yet another lawsuit that the SEC has dropped against crypto enterprises this year, following President Donald Trump’s assumption of office. Other cases which have been dissolved include those against crypto exchanges such as Kraken and Coinbase, retail trading giant Robinhood, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, and crypto wallet developer MetaMask.
This series of dismissals could potentially signify a more accommodating regulatory environment for digital assets, ushering in a new age of growth and innovation in the crypto industry.
