The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected a lawsuit against Nova Labs, developer of decentralized wireless network helium, for allegedly issued unregistered securities, Helium said in a 10 April blog post.
The trial was filed in January 2025 and was among the SEC’s final enforcement measures against a cryptocurrency developer under former President Gary Gensler, who stepped down from his position on January 20 after US President Donald Trump joined.
The dismissal with prejudice means that the blockchain developer cannot be charged with similar violations for issuing the issue in 2019 its original token helium (HNT), the company says.
“[W]E can now definitely say that all compatible helium -hotspots and the distribution of HNT, IoT and mobile tokens through the helium network are not securities, ”Helium said.
“[T]He results that the sale of hardware and distribution of tokens to network growth does not automatically make them securities in the eyes of the SEC [and] That SEC cannot bring these charges against Helium again, ”it added.
Source: Helium
SEC’s helium revering came the same day that Trump-Nominee Paul Atkins formally replaced the reimbursement as a SEC chair after a long confirmation process in the Senate.
Helium is a blockchain network designed to let “any building and own massive wireless network” according to its site. The protocol reports that they have approx. 375,000 active hotspots.
According to CoingeCKO, HNT has a market value of approx. $ 480 million per April 10 – down from heights of more than $ 5 billion in November 2021.
HNTS Price since 2019. Source: CoingeCko
Related: SEC will submit appeal against Ripple, says CEO Garlinghouse
Change of political attitude
Under Gensler, SEC brought up to 100 fees against web3 developers for various alleged securities violations.
Since Trump joined, SEC has sharply turned course and dropped several charges against cryptic companies, including Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple and Uniswap.
Trump has positioned himself as a pro-crypto president and promised to make America “the world’s crypto capital” who appoint industry-friendly leaders to central regulatory positions and ordered the federal government to set up a national Bitcoin (BTC) reserve.
For some Crypto leaders, Trump’s policies are threatening – such as announcing sweeping tariffs on US imports in April – with Stymie Crypto’s progress.
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