The Data Problem That Defined Solana Development
For Solana developers, retrieving historical transaction data has been a persistent nightmare. Simple tasks like finding the first transaction for an address or pulling the most recent 100 transactions required complex workflows involving thousands of RPC calls, creating bottlenecks that slowed applications and frustrated builders across the ecosystem.
Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz didn’t mince words when describing the current state of affairs, calling Google Bigtable-dependent historical queries “slow,” “expensive,” and “inflexible.” His solution represents what he calls a fundamental shift for the network: “today, Solana changes forever… we’ve solved the biggest data/RPC problem that exists.”
A Single Call to Rule Them All
At the center of Helius’s breakthrough is the new getTransactionsForAddress RPC method, backed by a distributed archival storage layer that the company claims delivers 1000x faster performance compared to existing solutions. This proprietary method consolidates what previously required multiple API calls into a single request, eliminating the complex choreography that developers have endured.
The new approach merges the traditional two-step pattern of calling getSignaturesForAddress followed by getTransaction into one streamlined operation. Developers can now retrieve fully decoded transactions with bidirectional time ordering and range filters by slot or timestamp, all without the endless looping that characterized the old workflow.
Beyond the headline feature, Helius reports that legacy endpoints including getBlock, getTransaction, and getSignaturesForAddress now operate 10x faster than before, thanks to the underlying archival system improvements.
Performance Claims and Developer Impact
Helius’s performance assertions are substantial: 100x reduction in call counts, 10x lower latency, and 1000x less code required for common operations. While these numbers represent Helius’s own benchmarks, they align with widespread developer complaints documented across Solana forums about sluggish historical data hydration, particularly for high-activity addresses.
The new system enables reverse search capabilities without back-traversal and supports pagination optimized for large, active accounts. However, developers should note that this isn’t a core Solana RPC addition—it’s a Helius-exclusive extension available only on their nodes, priced at 100 credits per request for Developer plans and above.
Timing Couldn’t Be Better
The infrastructure upgrade arrives at a pivotal moment for Solana. The network’s focus on high-throughput consumer and payments applications makes efficient data access patterns crucial for maintaining competitive performance. Applications that previously struggled with historical data queries can now operate with dramatically improved responsiveness.
The timing proves particularly fortuitous given recent institutional developments. Bitwise’s BSOL, the first US spot Solana ETF, launched on the NYSE the same day as Helius’s announcement, recording an impressive $56 million in trading volume on its debut. According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, this volume exceeded every other ETF launch in 2024, surpassing XRPR, SSK, Ives, and MNU in first-day performance.
Institutional Momentum Building
BSOL’s strong debut reflects growing institutional appetite for Solana exposure. The ETF launched with $220 million in seed funding, and Balchunas noted that had this capital been invested on day one, total assets could have reached $280 million, potentially matching ETHA’s record-setting debut performance.
Adding to the institutional momentum, Western Union announced plans to launch USDPT, a dollar-backed stablecoin on Solana, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank. The payment giant targets availability for the first half of 2026, representing another major enterprise adoption milestone for the network.
Market Response and Future Implications
SOL traded at $195 at press time, reflecting sustained market confidence in the network’s technical evolution and growing institutional adoption. The combination of infrastructure improvements, ETF launches, and enterprise stablecoin announcements creates a compelling narrative for continued growth.
For developers, Helius’s data infrastructure breakthrough removes a significant friction point that has limited application performance and user experience. The ability to retrieve comprehensive transaction histories without complex multi-call patterns should enable more sophisticated applications and smoother user interfaces across the Solana ecosystem.
What Developers Need to Know
While Helius’s improvements represent a significant leap forward, the proprietary nature means adoption requires migration to their infrastructure. The 100-credit pricing model for the new getTransactionsForAddress method will factor into cost calculations for high-volume applications, though the dramatic reduction in required calls may offset the per-request cost for many use cases.
The documentation emphasizes support for reverse search without back-traversal and pagination tuned for large accounts, addressing specific pain points that have challenged wallet providers and analytics platforms. For applications built around historical transaction analysis, these capabilities could enable entirely new feature sets previously impractical under the old architecture.