Avalanche: Helicon Mainnet Activation Deploys Six ACPs With Staking Overhaul - 22 Sep 2026

Avalanche's Helicon upgrade activates on mainnet at 11 AM ET (3 PM UTC), bringing six ACPs into effect. The changes include Continuous Execution, a dynamic minimum gas price, auto-renewed staking, a shorter minimum staking duration, a lower reward floor, and a higher validator uptime requirement. Nodes must upgrade before activation or stop operating.The staking overhaul is the most direct change for AVAX holders. Auto-renewal removes the need to manually re-stake after each cycle, while the shorter minimum validation period of 48 hours lowers the commitment required from new validators. The higher uptime requirement and lower reward floor tighten the economics around participation. On the execution side, Continuous Execution and the dynamic minimum gas price adjust how the C-Chain processes blocks under varying demand. The projected reduction in AVAX inflation of 0.5 to 1 percentage point follows from these combined mechanics, giving stakers and validators a changed fee and reward structure to evaluate once the activation completes.AvalancheGo v1.15.0, the Helicon Mainnet release, is out!Upgrade before activation: 11 AM ET (3 PM UTC) on September 22nd, 2026.Nodes not running a Helicon-capable version by then won't be able to follow the network.Release notes: