Helius Snaps Up Light Protocol in Major Solana Privacy Play

Helius has completed its acquisition of Light Protocol to bolster Solana's privacy capabilities. The deal reunites Light Protocol with its privacy-focused origins and aims to deliver zero-knowledge privacy for payments and DeFi on Solana. Light Protocol previously pivoted to ZK Compression, a framework unveiled in 2024 to reduce on-chain storage costs.

Led by founder Mert Mumtaz, Helius will merge Light Protocol's cryptography with its infrastructure and developer ecosystem. The two firms are developing a ZK-powered privacy protocol for Solana-based apps, still unnamed, with a flexible, fully programmable design. The collaboration aims to support private payments and confidential DeFi for enterprise and consumer users.