Helium (HNT) jumped almost 100% on Saturday. Behind the surge is a Texas town that stopped waiting for cell towers and switched on Wi-Fi it already owned.
Celina sits north of Dallas. It added 12,710 residents in a year and grew 24.6%, the fastest of any US city with more than 20,000 residents.
How Helium Turned Wi-Fi Into Cell Service
Helium announced the deployment on Friday. It covers the Celina Public Library, the Ralph ODell Senior Center, and some downtown shops.
The city built nothing new, since it already had Wi-Fi. Helium added a layer that lets phones treat those hotspots as cell coverage.
Phones sign in using credentials already stored on the SIM card. No app or password. Most people never notice the handoff.
The idea is not new either. AT&T signed on to the same Helium system in April 2025. That deal is what makes the automatic connection work.
“Helium let us turn Wi-Fi we already own into coverage our residents phones use automatically, without spending a dollar on new towers,” said Amy Alexander, director of information technology for the City of Celina.
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Why Helium Jumped Nearly 100%
The news broke Friday, yet HNT ran overnight and added roughly $37 million in market value. Those Celina sites carry about 100 GB a day. That is one library, one senior center, and a few shops.
Celina, TX grew 25% in 1 year. You cant build cell towers fast enough to keep up with that kind of growth.
Celina turned its own city-wide Wi-Fi networks into carrier coverage on the Helium Network.
100 GB/day, automatic on residents phones. No towers necessary. pic.twitter.com/hH70a8CZbk
— Helium???? (@helium) August 28, 2026
So traders bought the idea, not the income. HNT gained 97.4% over 30 days, and almost all of it arrived in the final 24 hours.
Turnover says the same thing because close to $44 million changed hands in a day, more than half the tokens $79 million market value.