Solana's Breakpoint 2024 unleashed a wave of innovation in crypto payments, with Helio and Humafinance at the forefront. From seamless e-commerce integrations to revolutionary payment financing solutions, these announcements are set to reshape how we think about digital transactions.

Summary

At Solana Breakpoint 2024, Stijn Paumen, CEO of Helio, unveiled groundbreaking developments in crypto checkouts, including a new Shopify integration called "blinks" that allows brands to sell directly from social media platforms. Helio has experienced exponential growth, facilitating over $1 billion in annualized payment volume and serving 750,000 unique buyers.

Following Helio's presentation, Avi Karaman, co-founder of Humafinance, introduced the concept of "pay-fi" - a new paradigm in payment financing leveraging blockchain technology and stablecoins. Humafinance aims to revolutionize the $16 trillion credit card industry and the $10 trillion trade finance sector by providing innovative financial solutions on the blockchain.

Both presentations highlighted Solana's growing importance in the world of digital payments and finance. The innovations showcased at Breakpoint 2024 demonstrate the ecosystem's potential to disrupt traditional financial systems and provide more accessible, efficient, and flexible payment solutions for businesses and consumers alike.

Key Points:

Helio's Growth and Impact

Helio has made significant strides in the crypto payment space since its inception two years ago. The company has onboarded 6,000 creators, merchants, and developers, serving over 750,000 unique buyers. Helio's payment volume has skyrocketed to over $1 billion on an annualized basis, demonstrating the growing demand for crypto payment solutions.

The company's success is attributed not just to the speed and low cost of Solana transactions, but more importantly to the ability to help merchants reach new customers and communities. This has become the killer feature of checkouts on Solana, opening up a vast market opportunity in the crypto commerce space.

Helio's New Shopify Integration: Blinks

One of the most exciting announcements from Helio was the introduction of "blinks" for Shopify. This innovative feature allows Shopify brands to sell their products directly from social media platforms, effectively turning these platforms into virtual town squares for e-commerce.

The blinks integration is set to launch next week, providing Shopify merchants with a powerful new tool to reach customers where they spend most of their time online. This seamless integration between social media and e-commerce has the potential to significantly boost sales for participating brands.

Humafinance and the Pay-Fi Revolution

Avi Karaman of Humafinance introduced the concept of "pay-fi," a new approach to payment financing that leverages blockchain technology and stablecoins. Pay-fi aims to address the growing demand for payment financing solutions, which traditional financial institutions are struggling to meet.

Humafinance has developed a six-layer stack for pay-fi, modeled after the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model that enabled the internet's growth. This stack includes layers for transactions, assurance, custody, wallets, compliance, and financing. Humafinance focuses on the financing layer, which connects capital demand and supply, dealing with risk assessment, asset pricing, structuring, tokenization, and distribution.

The Pay-Fi Ecosystem and Its Potential

The pay-fi ecosystem is growing rapidly, with Humafinance already facilitating over $1.9 billion in pay-fi transactions. The company is experiencing 10% month-over-month growth, with zero credit defaults and more than half a billion dollars in monthly demand pipeline.

Karaman emphasized the vast potential of pay-fi, suggesting that it could enable innovations such as digital asset-backed credit cards, verifiable invoice trade financing, and cross-border payment financing solutions that operate 24/7, addressing limitations of traditional financial institutions.

Facts + Figures

• Helio has onboarded 6,000 creators, merchants, and developers
• Helio serves over 750,000 unique buyers
• Helio's payment volume exceeds $1 billion on an annualized basis
• The crypto commerce market opportunity is currently $8 billion, expected to grow to $30 billion in the coming years
• Helio's Solana Pay plugin for Shopify has facilitated over $75 million in real sales
• Humafinance has processed more than $1.9 billion in pay-fi transactions
• Humafinance is growing at 10% month-over-month
• Humafinance has a pipeline of over half a billion dollars in monthly demand
• Credit cards facilitate $16 trillion in merchant payments globally
• Trade finance enables $10 trillion in business-to-business payments
• One in six families depends on remittances for financial support

Top quotes

1. "The number one reason why merchants choose Helio and Solana is because they want to reach new customers and new communities." - Stijn Paumen
2. "If you really want 100x the growth of payments, we need payments financing, a form of payment financing that leverages blockchains and a stable coin." - Avi Karaman
3. "If we can give people the control of when to get paid and when to pay, that is financial freedom." - Avi Karaman
4. "Pay-fi is a new part of RWA. If you think about DeFi, it is the most important part of RWA." - Avi Karaman
5. "Let's fucking go." - Avi Karaman

Questions Answered

What is Helio and what does it offer?

Helio is a company that provides crypto checkout solutions for merchants, creators, and developers. It offers branded pay links and checkouts, as well as fully integrated white-label checkout solutions. These include integrations with Discord for selling memberships, YouTube for paywalling content, and a Solana Pay plugin for Shopify. Helio's services enable businesses to accept USDC and hundreds of other cryptocurrencies as payment.

How successful has Helio been in the crypto payment space?

Helio has seen significant success since its inception two years ago. The company has onboarded 6,000 creators, merchants, and developers, serving over 750,000 unique buyers. Helio's payment volume has grown to exceed $1 billion on an annualized basis, demonstrating strong demand for their crypto payment solutions.

What is the new feature Helio announced for Shopify merchants?

Helio announced a new feature called "blinks" for Shopify. This integration allows Shopify brands to sell their products directly from social media platforms, effectively turning these platforms into virtual town squares for e-commerce. The blinks feature is set to launch next week, providing merchants with a powerful new tool to reach customers where they spend most of their time online.

What is Humafinance and what problem does it aim to solve?

Humafinance is a company that aims to revolutionize payment financing through blockchain technology and stablecoins. It introduces the concept of "pay-fi," which addresses the growing demand for payment financing solutions that traditional financial institutions struggle to meet. Humafinance aims to provide more accessible and flexible financial services, potentially disrupting industries such as credit cards, trade finance, and remittances.

What is pay-fi and how does it work?

Pay-fi, short for payment financing, is a new approach to financial services that leverages blockchain technology and stablecoins. It aims to provide users with control over when they get paid and when they pay, offering greater financial freedom. Humafinance has developed a six-layer stack for pay-fi, modeled after the OSI model that enabled the internet's growth. This stack includes layers for transactions, assurance, custody, wallets, compliance, and financing.

How successful has Humafinance been so far?

Humafinance has already processed more than $1.9 billion in pay-fi transactions. The company is experiencing rapid growth, with a 10% month-over-month increase in transaction volume. Notably, Humafinance has maintained zero credit defaults while handling this volume. The company also reports a significant pipeline of over half a billion dollars in monthly demand, indicating strong potential for future growth.

What potential use cases does pay-fi enable?

Pay-fi has the potential to enable various innovative financial services. These include digital asset-backed credit cards, trade financing with easily verifiable invoices, deep-in machine financing, and cross-border payment financing solutions. One key advantage of pay-fi is that it can operate 24/7, addressing limitations of traditional financial institutions that operate on restricted schedules.

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