Helium says Binance delisting of HNT is baseless

Binance has no grounds to delist trading pairs with the Helium Network Token (HNT) on the platform. This was stated by the Helium Foundation’s chief operating officer Scott Sigel, according to Forbes.

His comment followed Binance’s announcement to delist several HNT pairs on spot and margin trading from October 12-14.

A Binance spokesperson, Jessica Jung, told the publication that all assets in the listing are periodically checked for compliance with the exchange’s requirements.

“When a coin or token no longer meets this high standard or changes occur in the industry, we conduct more thorough analysis and may remove them from the listing to protect our users,” she added.

Sigel responded that “Binance has no grounds to remove trading pairs with HNT.”

“The integrity of HNT has not changed, it continues to meet all the exchange’s requirements. There are dozens of other platforms that continue to support the token. We hope Binance will change course and relist the pairs soon,” he said.

According to Carol Van Klief of the Bradley law firm, exchanges often delist assets when regulators start investigations into the projects behind them. Binance announced it would halt trading of the OOKI/BNB spot pair along with HNT. In September the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) SEC filed suit against Ooki DAO, in which the token is used for governance.

There is no known action by regulatory bodies, including the CFTC or the SEC, regarding Helium. The community offered several theories to explain Binance’s move.

Some recalled the September incident in which the exchange mistakenly credited users 4.8 million HNT for about $19 million instead of the cheaper MOBILE coin. This credit was paid to Helium’s 5G infrastructure operators.

Other commentators pointed to recent policy changes on the platform regarding certain stablecoins. The exchange is removing HNT pairs with BUSD and USDT.

Forbes noted that Binance’s delisting of HNT followed an investigative report into founders receiving “undue” payments of millions of dollars after the token’s launch.

Despite Helium raising $250 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global, network revenue for 2021 was only $92,000. It was expected that users could earn as node operators by purchasing equipment from the company for $500. One hardware owner told Forbes that revenue amounted to only a few dollars per month, and after electricity costs it turned into a loss.

Earlier in September Helium found itself at the center of a controversy when the network named Salesforce and Lime as clients. Both companies denied any relationship, Forbes reported.

Earlier in September, the Helium community backed migration from its own blockchain to Solana.

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