Helius launches privacy rings on Solana, encrypting assets and amounts
Key Facts
Helius announced the launch of Solana Privacy Rings on mainnet on November 10, 2026, introducing APIs developers can use to add privacy to new and existing Solana applications, according to the Solana Foundation. The open ring encrypts assets and amounts, but wallet addresses remain visible on-chain, according to Helius. Users can decrypt their balances only with a viewing key, allowing them to see their balance without concealing their wallet identity from others. That means the launch adds an option for transactions with encrypted balances, not automatic concealment of every detail of wallet activity. Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz said, "The last frontier for scaling crypto is privacy."
Open rings support SOL, SPL tokens and Token-2022 tokens, and execute private transactions directly on Solana, with encrypted data remaining on the network ledger, according to Helius. Use begins with depositing assets into a private balance, followed by sending private transfers to any Solana wallet address and then withdrawing assets to a public balance, according to the Solana Foundation. This route allows users to move between private and public balances without exposing the value or type of assets in the private transaction. Selected providers are also working to support fiat on- and off-ramps, the foundation said. Solana Foundation technical privacy lead Kat McGee said, "Privacy should become part of this infrastructure as more money moves through it."
The Solana Foundation says private transactions can be composed with other programs on the network within a single transaction, with liquidity shared across applications. The architecture supports use cases including swaps, lending, staking, yield and conditional payments, rather than limiting privacy to individual transfers. The foundation says succinct zero-knowledge proofs verify private transactions in a few hundred milliseconds. According to the foundation, this does not change Solana's sub-second finality, with the stated finality speed maintained under encryption. Composability gives applications a way to include private steps in their usual operations, while sharing liquidity across applications on the network.
Helius said Decrypt, Ore and Aurora Intents already use the open ring. Announced use cases include confidential transfers, protecting mining and staking balances, and bringing assets from other networks into a private balance. This comes as developer APIs enable the functions to be added to existing or new Solana applications, according to the Solana Foundation. On compliance, Range, Chainalysis and Elliptic support wallet-screening workflows, the foundation said. It added that Crossmint, MoonPay and Paybis are developing confidential on-ramps, while selected providers offer fiat on- and off-ramps.
Alongside the open ring available on mainnet, Custom Rings allow institutions to set up private environments on Solana with compliance rules and auditor visibility, according to Helius. These rings can be confidential, with counterparties visible and balances encrypted, or anonymous, with both counterparties and balances encrypted. The Solana Foundation said Custom Rings remain under audit and that it expects them to reach mainnet in the coming weeks. This institutional release remains separate from the current open-ring launch; the version available now encrypts assets and amounts while keeping wallets visible. The foundation did not specify a date for the institutional version in its announcement.
Helius said the core programs and zero-knowledge proof circuits were audited by three independent security firms: Certora, ZK Security and OtterSec. Formal verification of the open-ring programs and circuits is also underway, and the company expects it to be completed by the end of 2026. Engineers from the Solana Foundation, Blueshift and Zcash contributed to the protocol's trusted setup, according to the foundation. As part of the project's development, Helius acquired Light Protocol on June 10, 2026, to refocus its team on Solana privacy solutions, according to a report by The Block. Light Protocol was founded in 2021 to develop zero-knowledge-proof-based privacy tools before moving to the ZK Compression project, which Helius helped develop and launched in 2024, the report said.