Helius raised $500 million to buy SOL, but the Solana community now just wants it to change its name

Source: Odaily Planet Daily Azuma

Focusing on Solana (SOL), digital asset treasury companies are emerging rapidly.

After Forward Industries completed a $1.65 billion financing and quickly purchased 6.82 million SOL, on September 15, the U.S. listed company Helius (full name Helius Medical Technologies, stock code HSDT) completed a $500 million private placement to transform into a SOL treasury company. This financing was led by Pantera Capital and Summer Capital, with terms including the sale of common stock at $6.881 per share and warrants at $10.134 each. If all warrants are exercised, the total amount raised is expected to exceed $1.25 billion.

• Odaily Note: For details, see “After a $1.6 billion buy order, what's the ceiling for SOL reserve strategies at $1.25 billion?”.

However, compared to the Solana community's enthusiasm for Forward Industries, the discussions around Helius have a somewhat awkward tone.

The issue lies in the name of Helius ------ long before this Helius transformed into a SOL treasury company, there was already another Helius in the Solana ecosystem, which is the largest infrastructure development company in the Solana ecosystem. Its CEO 0xmert can be considered the most active developer in the entire Solana ecosystem (I personally think "one of" can be omitted). He not only has long served as a spokesperson for the Solana community but has also played a key role at critical junctures in Solana's history during multiple upgrades or maintenance.

After the treasury company Helius officially announced its presence, many community users, unaware of the details, initially reacted by assuming that this treasury should be led by the infrastructure company Helius, but that is not the case.

0xmert himself personally responded on X, stating that he is not involved in this matter: "Personal statement: To be serious, I have nothing to do with this ------ the name overlap is just a coincidence. The universe is simply teasing me. I reiterate, I am not involved, whether it’s Helius, Helium, Helio, Heliux, or Helicopter."

Subsequently, the "name collision" between the two companies quickly became a hot topic of discussion in the Solana community, with many debating whether this was "a blatant attempt to ride on the coattails" or "pure coincidence."

• Deep Ventures investor Mike Chan directly called out Pantera, saying: "When everyone knows that the most famous Solana infrastructure company is named Helius, why would you choose this name? Didn’t you consult 0xmert about this? It’s very strange."
• Overseas KOL Mister Todd commented under Pantera founder Dan Morehead's post: "It's hard to believe you chose the name Helius to mimic 0xmert's achievements. I believe the intermediaries of these shell companies could have had many other options. I hope this ultimately benefits Helius's development, as their work is crucial to the Solana ecosystem."
• Solana developer korg.sol sarcastically remarked: "Let’s just call everything Helius from now on, that way there won’t be any confusion."
• Marinade Finance team member NickyScanz followed up: "When I launch my own Solana company in the future, I’ll also name it Helius. No one can stop me."
• Ranger developer Dhrumil also mentioned: "My next company will also be named Helius, so I can join for free."

Clearly, from the statements of several community members, the Solana community is generally dissatisfied with the "name collision" operation of the treasury company Helius, as the infrastructure company Helius has a well-known reputation in the Solana ecosystem.

Although some voices claim this is purely coincidental, suggesting that institutions like Pantera chose Helius as a treasury shell simply because it was the most convenient operation from a financial perspective, theoretically, they could have announced a name change in advance like some other treasury companies (for example, Sun Yuchen renamed SRM Entertainment to Tron) to avoid potential confusion, but in fact, they did not do so.

Last night, Mike Dudas, co-founder of The Block and founder of 6 MV, publicly called on the Solana community on X to force the treasury company Helius to change its name ------ "GM, except for those self-righteous guys. They established a SOL treasury company called Helius yesterday, unaware that the largest infrastructure development company in Solana has long had that name. This morning, I will officially launch an action to force this DAT to change its name, let’s go!"

Under Mike Dudas's post, many, including Compound founder Robert Leshner, expressed their support, but the most interesting statement came from Solana co-founder raj (Raj Gokal) ------ "We always say we hope to see more teams like Helius, but it seems we can’t wish for things blindly anymore…"

As one of the two founders of Solana, raj undoubtedly represents the top-level attitude of Solana, and from his subtle expression, one can somewhat see dissatisfaction with the "name collision" of the treasury company Helius.

Looking ahead, it is possible that the treasury company Helius may consider changing its name to align with community sentiment (though it may also choose not to change), but such an operation that immediately loses community goodwill, in an increasingly competitive treasury track, may have greater repercussions, which time will reveal.

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