Amir Haleem, the founder of Helium, has relinquished his position as chief executive at Nova Labs, coinciding with a dramatic 96% decline in the HNT token over the last five years. He will now serve as chairman, while Mario Di Dio assumes the role of CEO. This leadership shift was announced on X, where Haleem confirmed the change and noted that HNT had fallen another 15% on the day of his announcement.
The departure comes on the heels of Nova Labs selling its consumer mobile business, Helium Mobile, to Noble Mobile on June 2. Despite this divestiture, Haleem’s exit failed to halt the token’s slide. Market data indicates HNT remained down 30% over the past week and 46% over the past month, with no recovery in sight.
Haleem’s message to the community emphasized that he still holds HNT, a stance he has consistently promoted over the years to bolster confidence in the project’s token-backed network model. Some community members on X praised his leadership tenure, while others criticized the timing of his exit given the ongoing price deterioration.
The broader Helium ecosystem has also been hit hard. MOBILE tokens have lost 76% of their value over five years, and IOT tokens have dropped 87%, reflecting the challenges faced by Nova Labs’ device reward system. The company had raised nearly $365 million in funding, including backing from FTX, before facing controversies.
In 2022, Helium attracted scrutiny for misrepresenting major companies like Lime and Nestlé as network users. A subsequent Forbes report alleged that insiders mined nearly half of all HNT during its early days. The SEC, under former chair Gary Gensler, filed a lawsuit in January 2025 over these misleading statements. However, after Paul Atkins took over the SEC under President Donald Trump, Nova Labs settled the case in April 2025, paying a $200,000 penalty on one count while other charges were dismissed.
Haleem’s transition to chairman closes a significant chapter for Nova Labs, which pioneered the use of crypto rewards to incentivize wireless network participation. The sale of Helium Mobile, a key consumer product that combined crypto incentives with low-cost mobile service, failed to lift HNT, leaving the community to ponder the project’s future direction.