Feb 4, 2025
The subscription economy has transformed the way consumers access products and services, shifting from traditional one-time purchases to recurring, value-driven models. From streaming services like Netflix to software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, businesses are increasingly leveraging subscriptions to drive predictable revenue and foster long-term customer relationships.
Platforms like Stripe have made subscriptions seamless for merchants and customers alike. However, subscriptions remain a challenge in crypto limiting the everyday adoption of crypto for regular transactions.
The new and improved Helio Subscriptions combine the benefits of crypto payments with the ease of traditional subscriptions, while prioritising security. By removing the barriers that held onchain subscriptions back, we’re making them more accessible than ever.
The Current State of Onchain Subscriptions
The challenge is that fiat payments "pull" funds from customers, while crypto payments require users to "push" them. This enhances security and prevents chargebacks but makes automatic subscription payments difficult.
Until now, Helio offered “escrow based” subscriptions, where customers pre-fund an onchain escrow account, from which payments are periodically withdrawn for each billing cycle. While functional, this approach is suboptimal. Who wants to lock up funds that limit cash flow flexibility, even if unused funds are refunded upon cancellation? Helio escrow subscriptions were also specifically designed for Solana, limiting its use for merchants and creators that want to sell across chains.
Other payment providers have taken the route of “delegated signing” to pre-approve transactions so platforms can withdraw money directly from a crypto wallet. This approach typically makes users uneasy and introduces security risks. Any experienced crypto user will admit it’s incredibly counterintuitive that funds can be “withdrawn” from their Phantom wallet.
The Helio Solution
Over the past three years, Helio has worked with hundreds of crypto SaaS apps including Triton, Cielo, DEX Screener, Solscan, Birdeye and top crypto creators like Pastel Alpha. We've taken everything we've learned to create a simple, practical way to power crypto subscriptions that just work!
Enter Helio Subscriptions, a smarter, more intuitive way to handle recurring crypto payments using charges and renewal reminders. No upfront payments. No risky processes. Just a secure, user-friendly solution that works across multiple blockchain including Solana, Ethereum, L2s and Bitcoin.
Here’s How It Works:
Merchants seamlessly create a subscription payment via the Helio dashboard and generate a shareable Pay Link or embed the Checkout Widget in their app with a few lines of code.
Customers connect their wallet once and provide their email during their first checkout. This action creates a subscription record in the Helio database.
Each month, customers receive an email reminder with a direct charge link to pay to renew their subscription.
Merchants can configure renewal reminders as well as a grace period to optimise payments.
Advanced Functionality
Subscriptions also now support all the advanced Helio features merchants love:
Affiliate Links: Instantly split revenue to reward your affiliates.
Discord Bot: Auto-assign and remove roles as subscriptions start and end.
Discounts: Offer exclusive perks with NFTs or discount codes
Exclusive Subscriptions: Gate access with NFTs, Discord roles, wallet allowlists, or access codes.
Developer Tools
Helio Subscriptions come with powerful developer tools to seamlessly integrate subscriptions into any app or site:
New API Endpoints: Query live subscription states and trigger renewal charges.
Webhooks: Verify when subscriptions start, renew, or expire in real time.
React & JS Checkout Widgets: Easily embed subscription checkouts anywhere.
...and more to power frictionless crypto subscriptions!
Popular Use Cases
The new version of Helio Subscriptions is optimized for the most popular use cases including:
Crypto SaaS: RPC providers, onchain data platforms, blockchain infra services, and more.
Crypto Creators: Alpha groups, Discord memberships, Whop creators, and beyond.
Digital Services : Streaming platforms, digital content, and subscription-based tools.
How to Get Started
Getting started with Helio Subscriptions is quick and simple:
Sign up or log in to Helio at app.hel.io.
Navigate to the easy-to-use subscription template on your dashboard.
Customize your subscription by entering details about your product, choosing the tokens you want to accept, and adding any advanced functionality or information.
Configure the Helio Discord bot to assign Discord memberships
Personalise your checkout flow to reflect your brand.
That’s it! Your subscription service is now ready to accept recurring crypto payments seamlessly.