What is an avalanche spiral?

Avalanche Helicon upgrade: Improve transaction speed and pledge flexibility

Avalanche Helicon is an upgrade to the Avalanche blockchain that aims to speed up the network processing of transactions and change pledge rules (i.e., lock in AVAX coins to help ensure network security and obtain rewards). It adds a faster way to confirm transactions on the C-chain, the part of Avalanche that runs smart contracts, makes pledges more flexible with six community-approved proposals, and replaces a fixed minimum transaction fee with a mechanism that the network can adjust itself.

Helicon will be launched on July 28, 2026 on the Fuji Test Network, an exercise network used to test upgrades before the actual network is launched. Avalanche has not yet set a specific date for Helicon to be launched on the main network.

What changes has the upgrade of the C chain brought?

Currently, the C-chain must complete processing of all transactions in a block before confirming the next block. This back-and-forth limits the network's ability to process transactions simultaneously, just as a cashier must wait for a receipt to be fully printed before starting to check out the next customer.

This upgrade (called ACP-194) allows these two tasks to be done in parallel rather than one by one. New trades continue to be accepted while a separate process processes trades in the queue. As a result, more transactions can be processed in the same time.

One detail worth noting: the final result of a transaction will officially take effect the moment after the block is confirmed, rather than immediately at the moment of confirmation. Most users won't notice this, but it can be important for some of the technical tools built on Avalanche.

How does automatic renewal pledge work?

Currently, any user pledging AVAX to help run the network must choose an end date. When that date comes, they must manually restart the process to continue receiving rewards. If the operation is slow, they will lose rewards during the gap period, which is especially obvious for users running multiple computers (nodes) at the same time.

This upgrade (ACP-236) removes this manual step. Instead of setting a fixed end date, the pledger sets a repeating time period, which will be automatically renewed by the system. Simply put:

At the end of each cycle, rewards are automatically calculated and paid without any action.
Pledge holders can choose to automatically reinvest part or all of the rewards rather than withdraw them.
Pledge holders can update their settings at any time, and the changes will take effect at the beginning of the next cycle.

As long as the pledger maintains the required online time for the network, this process will be automatically renewed periodically. If they fail to meet the requirements, they will be removed from the process and their original collateral and past rewards will be retrieved, but the last cycle of rewards will be lost. This automatic renewal only applies to currencies pledged by individuals and does not apply to currencies entrusted to them by others.

Why did Avalanche increase the launch time requirement to 90%?

To receive a pledge reward, the verifier's computer must remain online and respond normally for a certain percentage of the time. This requirement will be increased from 80% to 90%.

When too many validators respond slowly, the network takes more time to query to reach a consensus on the status of the transaction, which slows the entire process down. The increased threshold is designed to keep more verifiers online, helping the network confirm transactions faster.

This stricter new rule only applies to pledges starting on or after April 1, 2026. For users who have started pledging before this date, the old 80% rule will still apply to their current pledging period.

What is the new minimum pledge period?

The minimum pledge time has been shortened from two weeks (336 hours) to only 48 hours. This mainly benefits large institutions, whose funds cannot usually be locked up for weeks. Combined with the automatic renewal function, pledgers can continuously make short-term pledges, thereby remaining active without having to lock in funds for a long time.

How will this upgrade change in pledge rewards over time?

Lowering the threshold for short-term pledges has a side effect: the return is almost equivalent to the pledge for a full year, weakening the incentive mechanism for long-term pledges. This upgrade (ACP-285) solves this problem by adjusting the reward formula, so that the return of long-term pledges is again significantly higher than that of short-term pledges, while maintaining the pledge for a full year is the same as currently. Overall, the average reward will drop slightly as a result, but the change will be implemented gradually over about three months rather than in one go, so no one will be caught off guard by the sudden change.

What changes have been made to the expense system?

Each transaction on the C chain requires a small fee, and there is a minimum price, below which trading networks will not process. This minimum price has long been fixed at an extremely low level, and in fact, actual transaction fees have been so low that spam robots can still flood the Internet cheaply.

This upgrade (ACP-283) replaces the fixed minimum fee with a mechanism that allows network verifiers to vote and adjust based on actual conditions. If there is a lot of spam transactions or network congestion, the minimum fee can double in about an hour; if things return to normal, it can fall just as quickly.

When will Helicon be available on the main network?

As of the end of July 2026, Helicon is only running on the Fuji test network to identify potential problems before actual deployment. It has not yet been activated on the Avalanche main website, so these pledges or fee changes will not affect true AVAX holders at this time. Avalanche said it will confirm the launch date of the main network and the software version that node operators need to run in subsequent pre-release announcements.

Summary

Avalanche Helicon integrates six changes related to the way transactions are processed on the network and the pledge mechanism. It allows C-chains to process transactions faster, eliminates the need to manually renew pledges, increases the on-line time requirements that verifiers must meet, shortens the minimum pledge period, rebalances rewards to encourage long-term pledges, and allows the network to adjust minimum transaction fees by itself. Together, these changes aim to make Avalanche faster to use and more flexible to pledge, and are currently being tested before it launches on the main network.