Helio, the payment-solutions provider behind the Helions NFT collection I told you about last fall, recently announced that the project is soon going to pay its NFT holders their first quarterly reward.
I wanted to update you on that, and to let you know about an opportunity I see with the Helions NFTs.
Before we begin, NFTs are one-off, one-of-a-kind cryptocurrencies that represent ownership of a digital asset. (If you haven’t already done so, I’d advise that you first check out the two NFT reports I’ve prepared as part of Frontier Fortunes: How to Invest in NFTs and The Frontier Fortunes Guide to NFT Wallets.)
Each Helion NFT owner will soon be receiving an airdrop of $3.27. If you already own Helions, the payment will land in your crypto wallet as USDC—U.S. Dollar Coin, the crypto stablecoin that tightly shadows the U.S. dollar. The payment should occur in the next two weeks.
Helio calls this a “reward,” but it is effectively like a quarterly dividend payment from revenues in Q4 of last year. Better yet, Helio’s business is growing, and it will soon launch a new service that should see revenue ramp even higher…potentially quite sharply, which means future reward payments could increase.
Just as a reminder, Helio is a provider of payment solutions in the new crypto-version of the internet, often called Web3. In that way, it is similar to Stripe or PayPal in the current mainstream internet, known as Web2.
I originally sent you a dispatch last September recommending Helio just prior to the project’s launch. The mint price was 3 Solana, or about $95 at the time.
Today, the floor price for the NFTs on the Magic Eden marketplace is 7.5 Solana, or about $86. So, we have more than doubled our profits in SOL terms, but we’re down marginally in dollar terms. That’s temporary.
Beyond the overall crypto-market malaise, Solana is struggling because of the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried and his FTX crypto exchange. Bankman-Fried and FTX were big backers of Solana, and that scandal has spilled over onto Solana. That, however, is not a permanent state of affairs. Solana has a large and deep community of developers who continue to design and build all kinds of projects and services for the Solana blockchain. Once the FTX scandal fades, Solana will be fine.
Which is why I want to be an accumulator of Solana today, at cheap prices.
And it’s also why Helions stands out right now.
On an annualized basis, that $3.27 per NFT equates to a return of more than 15%, based on the current $86 price for a Helions NFT. That’s a very nice payment to collect.
Which is why I’ve begun adding to my collection of Helions, and why I see an opportunity to add to your collection, or to initiate a position in this NFT project.
With Solana so cheap right now, each Helion is effectively spinning out 0.3 SOL. I am using the USDC I earn from my Helions to buy more SOL, which I am then using to buy more Helions.
As Solana’s price rebounds, the SOL/Helions I own will increase in value, meaning that $3.27 reward payment would be worth tens of dollars or even hundreds of dollars, depending on how high SOL rebounds or how high a Helions price climbs.
The question to ask, of course, is: What will keep Helio revenues strong or, better yet, climbing?
Well, I recently chatted with the Helion’s team and, while I cannot share the full details of what Helio is planning, I can tell you this: There are creator-based segments of today’s internet economy that generate scads of money. Helio is soon going to announce a payments service that will draw those segments into Web3.
That has the potential to sharply increase Helio’s revenues…which would flow through the NFTs as reward payments…which would ultimately drive the NFT’s price higher as investors catch on to the income stream.
And then there’s the business that’s already up and running and clearly profitable. We’re certain to see continued growth there. Indeed, I see 2023 shaping up as The Year of Web3.
We’ve already got so many giant brands building out their Web3 strategy—names like McDonald’s, Nike, Ralph Lauren. Just recently, Home Depot and brokerage giant Fidelity announced they’ve filed Web3 patents and trademarks. None of these companies care about the downtrend in crypto at the moment. They realize it’s a temporary state of affairs.
What they do care about is the future.
And they all see that the future of retail, banking, entertainment, etc. is Web3, and they want to get out ahead of the curve and build their Web3 presence now, before hundreds of millions of consumers descend.
As such, my bet is that across 2023, we’re going to see a constant drumbeat of companies making similar Web3 announcements, and many will need blockchain-oriented payment solutions that allow businesses and consumers to pay for products and services using credit cards or crypto.
Lots of them will reflexively go in search of a payment-solutions provider that is native to the arena. Sure, PayPal and Stripe (neither is native to Web3) and others that populate today’s internet will be stomping around in this sandbox as well. But Web3 is a colossal sandbox, and many winners will emerge.
Helio, I’d wager, will be one of them.
Right now, Helio’s business is quite small relative to Web2 payment-solutions companies.
Here’s how I look at the opportunity Helions NFTs represent:
- Helio is not even a year old, but it’s already profitable and spinning out income to NFT holders.
- The revenue stream it reported in Q4 was strong even though it came during a decidedly crummy time for the Solana ecosystem, and a crummy moment for the U.S. economy as inflation rages, interest rates rise, and asset prices collapse.
- Helio operates in a space—Web3—that was barely more than a vague notion a year ago, but which is now drawing in some of the largest consumer companies in the world.
- This was Helio’s very first payment, and its revenues are sure to grow, which means our income is likely to grow too.
Those facts—and the 15% yield—are plenty enough reasons for me to be bullish on Helions NFTs.
At present, there is some excitement around Helions since the crypto payments were just announced. You must have been an owner as of Jan. 1 in order to qualify for the payment for Q1 of 2023, but if you buy before April 1, you’ll be set to collect future payments.
So, if you’re interested in adding to or initiating a new position in Helions, I would watch the prices on Magic Eden and buy in the 6 to 7 SOL range when the prices inevitably slip a bit.
You can find Helions NFTs trading on the Magic Eden marketplace here.
