HIP 147: Mobile Data Eats First

• Author: @ferebee
• Start Date: 2025-08-20
• Category: Economic, Technical
• Original HIP PR: #1182
• Tracking Issue: #1183
• Voting Requirement: veHNT Holders

Summary

Currently, 20% of the HNT emissions to the Mobile network are reserved for PoC (Proof-of-Coverage) rewards, as defined in [HIP-53][hip-53]. Data Transfer is rewarded pro-rata from the 40% Data Transfer bucket, with anything left over added to the PoC bucket.

Since the recent halving, Data Transfer has been increasing, while HNT prices have been volatile. This means the 40% of HNT emissions allocated to Mobile may sometimes be insufficient to reward Hotspots 1:1 for their actual Data Transfer contribution. Meanwhile, the time it takes for useful deployments to be selected for offload is decreasing. Developments such as Utility Probing, as proposed in [HIP-145][hip-145], are expected to reduce that time even further.

Therefore, PoC rewards are no longer the primary driver of network growth. Data Transfer is the ultimate proof of utility.

Under this proposal, the 20% reservation of emissions for PoC would be removed. Instead, up to 60% of HNT emissions to Mobile would be used to reward Hotspots for Data Transfer pro-rata. Any remaining emissions would be distributed as PoC rewards.

Rendered View

https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/main/0147-mobile-data-eats-first.md