what's Helios?
Helios is an ETF-native Layer 1 blockchain designed for programmable on-chain ETFs and automated portfolio management across multiple chains. It integrates assets from Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, stablecoins, and RWAs into unified portfolios with native automation features like AI-driven rebalancing, dollar-cost averaging, and profit-taking executed via the Chronos engine. Security is provided through Interchain Proof-of-Stake Relay (I-PoSR), with the Hyperion bridge enabling seamless cross-chain operations and scalability for complex strategies.
Vitalik Buterin highlighted Helios in Jan 2026 for verifying Ethereum RPC data.
Becomes 4x cheaper by data bandwidth due to Ethereum's planned switch from hexary keccak MPT to binary tree, which reduces Merkle branch size from 512*log(n)/4 to 32*log(n).
Mentioned by Vitalik Buterin in a January 2026 blog post about self-sovereignty and trustlessness in Ethereum, specifically highlighting Helios as a tool to verify data received from RPCs instead of blindly trusting it.
Allocated $40,000 in HLS tokens as rewards for the top 100 participants in a Mindo campaign ending on January 20, 2026.
Has a $240k reward pool for the first epoch ending on 2026-01-16.
Ranked #6 on the MindoAI leaderboard as of January 11, 2026.
Completed TGE and is now providing grants to support new developer teams building in the ecosystem.
Conducted a token sale on CoinTerminal with a fully refundable structure, where at least one participant contributed $50,000 and later received a full refund.
Interoperates with ADIChain to enable compliant settlement, RWA flows, and institutional-grade use cases.
Lists on KuCoin, MEXC, and BingX exchanges on December 19, 2025 at 15:00 UTC.
Allocated $20,000 USDT for a video content creator incentive program on MindoAI, paying $10 per 1,000 views for short-form videos.
CoinTerminal will host an IDO for the project.
The project secured $15M in funding, placing it among the top 10 crypto fundraising rounds for the previous week.
Open access IDO sale goes live on CoinTerminal platform with first come first served allocation, no per-user cap, automatic $5K lottery entry for participants, and 12-hour refund window.
DAO Bonus Event launches with a 500,000 DAO reward pool offering up to 50,000 DAO per user and 10% guaranteed cashback on Shakebox losses for Helios Sale contributions on DAO Pad.
Strong Holder Offering (SHO) is live with $325k public allocation and $175k DAO allocation, ending December 17 at 12:00 UTC with a 3-day claim or refund period.
Receives $15 million investment from Bolts Capital.
SHO (Strong Holder Offering) launches December 12, 2025 at 12:00 UTC with two rounds totaling $500k: $325k open to all and $175k in $DAO, both ending December 17, 2025 with a 3-day claim or refund period.
Platform reaches 145K TVL within 24 hours of Beta Mainnet launch, with bridging from 6 chains available until December 1.
Platform demonstrates native applications including Helios light clients, XMTP Messenger integration, Ethnimbus integration, NFT minting through dGEN1 camera, and CHAD onchain AI assistant.
Beta Mainnet launches with 20% APY yield farming in $HLS token live across 6 chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, and BNB Chain.
Beta Mainnet goes live offering 20% APY staking rewards until December 1 with support for 6-chain bridging and XP-based yield boosts.
Galaxy reports $500M net income for Q3 with Helios data center still not online.
Data center expansion continues with 3.5GW of potential power capacity at Helios, projecting over $5B/year in revenue based on existing lease economics.
New partnership with Billions Network launches to implement anti-bot measures for testnet leaderboard, ensuring only real humans can compete for rewards.
New partnership with Allora Network enables AI-powered Bitcoin lending with real-time rate adjustments and native BTC support.
Major technical update launches with parallel transaction processing, TypeScript support, and historical block access capabilities.
Major AI infrastructure expansion underway with Helios data center campus, now actively scaling operations in North America.
Incentivized testnet launches with XP earnings convertible to future airdrop rewards.
Discord wallet linkers receive exclusive multipliers on all testnet activities; incentivized testnet launching soon with participant airdrops.
New validator selection system combines reputation-based validation with direct revenue sharing for smart contract developers, moving away from traditional stake-based validation.
Urgent wallet linking required in Discord for testnet participants; potential airdrop teased for participants before form closes.
Active testnet features gamified incentives and cross-chain validation system; token utility focused on APY boosting and governance.