Helius, the Solana infrastructure firm founded by Mert Mumtaz, has acquired Light Protocol to enable its experienced team to focus on Solana privacy solutions. According to an announcement shared with The Block, the acquisition returns Light Protocol to its original mission of bringing zero-knowledge privacy to Solana. The company was originally founded in 2021 to focus on ZK-powered privacy tools before it shifted to ZK Compression, which was co-developed by Helius and launched in 2024.
The acquisition includes building a ZK-based privacy protocol for private payments and private DeFi on Solana. As reported by The Block, this chain is fully programmable and configurable to enable customization for both retail and institutional use cases. Helius plans to open the new privacy infrastructure to developers in the coming months, according to the announcement. The infrastructure framework aims to reduce the cost of storing data on Solana using zero-knowledge proofs, enabling developers to build large-scale consumer and enterprise applications.
The acquisition comes amid a moment of consolidation in the crypto industry as venture capital financing dries up. According to The Block, several projects, including well-established protocols, have opted to wind down, while some more capitalized firms look to expand through acquisitions. This consolidation trend reflects the current market environment where funding availability has become more limited for crypto projects.
The acquisition also comes amid rising interest in crypto privacy, including at the Ethereum Foundation, which is now funding multiple privacy initiatives. As reported by The Block, for Layer 1 chains like Zcash, there is increasing momentum around privacy solutions. Mumtaz, in particular, has become an outspoken advocate for onchain privacy and has championed Solana-based tools alongside his support for Zcash. He emphasized that 'Crypto without privacy is not crypto' and that privacy will be essential for blockchain scalability.
