Aakash Gupta · 4 min read · Growth
Protocol Insights #1
Read the original on aakashg.substack.com →
This digest reports on multiple crypto protocol trends: Helium's expanding network with rapidly growing hotspot counts but shrinking protocol revenues; Solana's on-chain activity rising while decentralization metrics look robust; and Yuga Labs' NFT acquisitions continuing to reshape BAYC, Punks, and Meebits markets. It also notes potential upside from HIP-51 updates that may enhance network capabilities.
Key Takeaways
- Helium's active hotspots rose by 31,502 in the last 30 days to 906,254, with a projected 1M nodes by end of Q3 2022, but protocol revenue fell ~50% from $5.5M in April to $2.6M in June; most June revenue came from one-time installation revenues rather than organic data-credit usage.
- Solana daily transactions have surged ~4x since April, while daily active addresses have stalled; validator count nearly doubled, and a Nakamoto coefficient of 27 indicates notable decentralization.
- Yuga Labs' acquisition of Meebits and CryptoPunks helped BAYC rise in median price (to ~148 ETH in April) while Punks lagged; Meebits price rose after joining the Yuga umbrella, and overall Yuga market share fell from ~27% in Jan 2022 to ~23% in July 2022.
- HIP-51 updates aiming to enable a greater network could provide further support for Helium over time.
Excerpt
① Helium $HNT Helium protocol revenues decline ~50%, ROI on hotspots lower Website | Discord | Dashboard The number of active hotspots in the Helium network continues to grow adding another 31,502 devices in the last 30 days to reach a total of 906,254 devices. At this rate the network should reach 1 mn nodes by the end of Q3 2022 Source: Helium Board However, protocol revenue is ~50% lower, from a monthly high of $5.5M in April to $2.6 mn in June. In addition, one source indicates that just $6,561 out of the $2.6 mn generated in June stemmed…