Solana infrastructure company Helius has announced the acquisition of Light Protocol, according to Odaily. Following the deal, the Light Protocol team will refocus on the development of privacy solutions for Solana. The acquisition brings together Light Protocol’s cryptography capabilities and Helius’ strengths in infrastructure and distribution, with the stated goal of building new on-chain privacy infrastructure for the Solana ecosystem.
Light Protocol Returns to Its Privacy Mission
Light Protocol was founded in 2021 and initially worked on Solana privacy tools based on zero-knowledge proofs. The project later shifted toward a joint effort with Helius to develop ZK Compression. That solution went live in 2024 and was designed to reduce the cost of storing data on Solana through zero-knowledge proofs, supporting large-scale consumer and enterprise applications.
After the acquisition, Light Protocol will return to its original mission around privacy infrastructure. Helius said the combined teams will develop a ZK privacy protocol for Solana, with use cases including private payments and private DeFi. The plan extends Light Protocol’s early work in zero-knowledge proofs and privacy tooling, while also incorporating the collaboration experience gained from its work with Helius on ZK Compression.
Developer Access Planned in the Coming Months
Helius plans to open the relevant privacy infrastructure to developers in the coming months. The company aims to use its Solana infrastructure and distribution capabilities to help developers build around private payments, private financial applications and other on-chain privacy needs. Odaily also noted that the transaction comes as consolidation in the crypto industry accelerates and the funding environment tightens.
The renewed demand for on-chain privacy forms part of the backdrop to the deal. Helius founder Mert Mumtaz said privacy will become a key foundation for blockchain scalability in the same way that HTTPS became essential for the internet. With the Light Protocol team returning to privacy-focused development, Helius will direct the acquired resources toward Solana’s ZK privacy protocol and related developer infrastructure.