Helius is a blockchain infrastructure company that provides a comprehensive development platform for the Solana network. The company offers a suite of tools, including high-performance Remote Procedure Call (RPC) nodes, specialized APIs, and real-time data streaming services, designed to simplify and accelerate the creation of scalable applications.

Overview

Helius functions as a foundational infrastructure provider for developers, trading firms, and enterprises operating within the Solana ecosystem. The platform's core mission is to address common challenges faced by developers, such as network congestion, transaction reliability, and complex data access, by offering a robust and vertically integrated suite of back-end services. The company's infrastructure is SOC 2 certified, indicating adherence to security and availability standards. ^{[1] [2]}

The platform's services are designed to support a wide range of applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and NFT marketplaces to digital wallets and enterprise-level systems. By providing enhanced connectivity and enriched data, Helius aims to lower the barrier to entry for building on Solana and enable developers to focus on user experience rather than underlying infrastructure management. The company also plays an active role in the ecosystem by operating a public validator and contributing to developer education through its blog and technical documentation. ^{[3] [4]}

In a 2023 interview, CEO Mert Mumtaz articulated the company's vision, stating that robust developer tools are critical for the growth of any blockchain ecosystem. He emphasized the need for effective communication and narrative-building to showcase Solana's technical value, positioning Helius as a key enabler of this growth. ^[4] Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has commented on the company's role, stating, "The Helius team makes building on Solana smoother and easier. They’ve done an amazing job at streamlining and removing complexity from app development on the network." ^[1]

History

Helius established its public presence in June 2022 with the creation of its official account on X (formerly Twitter). ^[5] The company, legally known as Helius, Inc., was co-founded by Mert Mumtaz and Nick Pennie. ^{[3] [2]}

Throughout its development, Helius has progressively launched a series of specialized products. On June 18, 2025, the company announced the release of LaserStream, a gRPC-based service for high-performance data streaming. ^[5] This was followed by further enhancements to its low-latency data offerings, detailed in an August 18, 2025, blog post titled "Winning the Millisecond Game." ^[2]

In late September 2025, Helius announced that its Shred Delivery and Sender products were live, expanding its suite of tools for transaction optimization and low-latency data access. A blog post on September 11, 2025, detailed how these two products could be combined to achieve "zero-slot execution," a term describing highly efficient transaction processing. ^[2]

Technology and Services

Helius provides a vertically integrated platform of infrastructure and developer tools for Solana, organized into several distinct categories. ^[6]

RPC Infrastructure

Helius offers managed RPC nodes that serve as the primary communication layer between applications and the Solana blockchain. These services are designed to offer higher reliability and performance compared to public endpoints.

• Shared RPC Nodes: A usage-based service for applications with moderate demand, featuring rate limits.
• Dedicated RPC Nodes: Private, dedicated infrastructure for high-demand applications, offering unlimited requests and lower latency.
• Global Distribution: Nodes are globally distributed across North America, Europe, and Asia to minimize latency for users worldwide, with an automated routing system to direct requests to the nearest node.
• Security: The platform includes security features such as the ability to whitelist specific IP addresses and domains. Helius also provides an open-source RPC Proxy tool that can be deployed to protect API keys from exposure in client-side applications.

These services are designed to provide a high success rate for blockchain interactions, with the company claiming a 99.99% success rate for its RPC calls. ^{[1] [3]}

Data Streaming and APIs

Helius offers a suite of services for accessing real-time and historical on-chain data through various protocols and enriched APIs.

• LaserStream: A high-performance service for streaming Solana blocks, transactions, and account data using gRPC. It includes features like Optimized Shredstream for minimal latency, historical data replay, and reliable data delivery through client SDKs with automatic reconnection capabilities. The SDKs are available in Go, Rust, and JavaScript. ^[5]
• Shred Delivery: A service that provides developers with the earliest possible access to raw Solana data, known as shreds, before it is processed by other nodes. ^[1]
• Webhooks and WebSockets: These services enable developers to build reactive applications by listening for on-chain events. Webhooks can monitor up to 100,000 addresses and support over 70 transaction types, while Enhanced WebSockets offer granular subscription controls. ^[3]
• Digital Asset Standard (DAS) API: A comprehensive API for querying, searching, and managing NFTs and SPL tokens, providing structured metadata for digital assets. ^[6]
• Enhanced Transactions API: This API provides enriched transaction data, including decoded instructions, token transfers, and other human-readable information, abstracting away the complexity of parsing raw transaction logs. ^[6]

Transaction Management

The platform includes specialized services designed to improve the success rate and efficiency of transaction submissions, particularly during periods of high network congestion.

• Helius Sender: An optimized transaction sending service designed to increase the probability of successful transaction inclusion and reduce latency. ^[1]
• Priority Fee API: A tool that provides dynamic priority fee estimates based on real-time network conditions. By using the getPriorityFeeEstimate method, applications can calculate the optimal fee to pay, improving transaction confirmation times while avoiding overpayment. This feature is used by clients like the NFT marketplace Magic Eden to manage high-demand events. ^[7]

Compression Technology

Helius provides tools and infrastructure related to Solana's state compression, a technology that reduces the on-chain cost of creating and managing digital assets.

• ZK Compression: Services that allow developers to leverage zero-knowledge compression to lower storage costs for NFTs and tokens.
• Compressed NFT (cNFT) Tools: The platform offers specific tools for working with compressed NFTs, including event listening and management through its APIs. ^[6]

Developer Tools

To support the development process, Helius offers several resources and tools.

• Helius SDKs: Software Development Kits are available to simplify integration with Helius's services.
• ORB Explorer: A proprietary Solana blockchain explorer designed for visualizing transactions, accounts, and programs.
• AI-Powered Documentation: The official documentation website includes an integrated AI assistant that allows developers to ask questions in natural language to find information and code examples.
• Helius Test Drive: An open-source tool, available as a web interface and a local repository, for testing RPC and API calls. ^[3]

Validator Services

In addition to its developer platform, Helius is a prominent validator on the Solana network. The company offers several services related to network participation and staking.

• Public Validator: Helius operates a public validator node that participants can delegate their SOL stake to. The validator offers 0% fees and provides full Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) rewards to its stakers. ^[3]
• Validator-as-a-Service: Helius provides infrastructure and services for other entities to run their own validators.
• Liquid Staking: The company offers hSOL, a liquid staking token that represents staked SOL while remaining usable in DeFi applications.
• Programmatic Staking: Helius provides an SDK for programmatic staking on Solana, allowing developers to integrate staking functionalities directly into their applications. ^[6]

Team

Helius was co-founded by Mert Mumtaz and Nick Pennie. Mert Mumtaz serves as the company's CEO and is an active public figure in the Solana community. ^{[3] [4]} Other team members involved in product development and technical education include Liam Vovk, who focuses on transaction performance; Het Dagli, involved with the LaserStream SDK; and Ichigo, who contributes to technical content. ^[5]

Partnerships and Adoption

Helius's infrastructure is used by a wide range of projects across the Solana ecosystem, from major DeFi protocols and wallets to enterprise companies. The company's client list includes:

• Wallets: Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, Trust Wallet, Exodus
• DeFi and Exchanges: Jupiter, Bybit, Raydium, Orca, Zeta Markets
• NFT and Gaming: Magic Eden, Tensor, Pudgy Penguins, Crossmint
• Infrastructure and Data: Solana Foundation, Pyth, Chainalysis, Dexscreener
• Enterprise and Web2: Bloomberg, Coinbase, Shopify, Brave, Discord
• DePIN: Helium, Hivemapper

A case study published in August 2025 highlighted how the trading platform DFlow uses Helius's LaserStream to gain a competitive edge in quoting prices. ^[2] Another case study detailed how Magic Eden relies on Helius's RPC nodes and Priority Fee API to handle high traffic and manage transaction throughput for its millions of monthly users. Helius also has a technical integration with Dynamic, a wallet infrastructure SDK, allowing developers to configure Helius RPCs directly from the Dynamic dashboard. ^[7]

The platform has received endorsements from key figures in the industry. Armani Ferrante, CEO of Backpack, stated, "Helius is super fast, reliable, and I'd recommend them to anyone looking for the best developer experience on Solana." ^[1]