The Zeitgeist

Our guest this week is Kanpai Pandas CEO, Ice Bagz . Kanpai Pandas is an omnichain NFT project built on layer zero tech that just launched their latest collection on Solana. With collectibles spanning across 8 different networks, a media business, clothing line, events, and high-profile ambassadors in the contact sports industry, Kanpai Pandas is more than an NFT project, it’s a movement. Show Not...

Our guest this week is Alex. BSL, the co-CEO at Blocksmith Labs, the company behind the Smyths NFT collection. Alex. BSL joins Brian Friel to discuss the origin story of Blocksmith Labs and how they started with the goal of creating NFT collections that provide real value, not just hype. He talks about their different products, including Mercury, a pre-mint tool, and Atlas, a hub for NFT activity....

Our guests this week are Vibhu Norby and Degen Poet . Vibhu is the founder of DRiP , a platform that allows users to receive free NFT collectibles, commissioned from artists and projects across the landscape of crypto. The project has grown exponentially since its inception, with over 300,000 wallets receiving at least one NFT a week. Degen Poet, a prolific artist on Solana, has been a key collabo...

Our guests this week are Trevor Bacon and Kellan Grenier, co-founders of Parcl.  Parcl is a blockchain-native platform that allows users to trade real estate on Solana, democratizing access to the world's largest asset class. Parcl offers a unique architecture that enables users to make perpetual predictions on the median price per square foot of real estate in different markets across the US. Par...

Our guest this week is Richard Wu, Co-Founder of Tensor, a Solana-based NFT marketplace tailored for professional traders. We explore the origins and journey of Tensor on Solana, and delve into the unique capabilities of their recently launched compressed NFT marketplace. Richard shares insights on the differences between traditional NFTs and Tensor's compressed NFTs, and discusses the innovative...

Our guest this week is Andrew Pelekis , CEO of Claynosaurz . Claynosaurz is more than an NFT project, it's a 3D production studio full of artists from Sony, Disney, Dreamworks, Ubisoft, Netflix, Warner Bros, Marvel, Industrial Light & Magic focusing on developing quality entertainment IP in Web3. Andrew sits down with Brian Friel to discuss the entire Claynosaurz ecosystem, building entertainment...

Our guest this week is Austin Federa . Austin is head of strategy and communications at Solana Foundation, responsible for setting the direction of the Solana Foundation and working with projects and developers building in the Solana ecosystem.  Austin discusses Solana's pragmatic engineering culture and the need for developers to focus on building things that are truly only possible on Solana. He...

This week's guest is Domingo Valadez , Co-founder & CEO of Homebase , a platform that lets people invest in tokenized residential real estate for as little as $100. As real estate prices continue to get more and more unaffordable for people, Homebase aims to be the destination for US renters to invest in the US residential real estate market via fractionalizing NFTs.   Show Notes: 0:50 - What is H...

Our guest this week is Mert Mumtaz , Co-founder & CEO of Helius, a vertically integrated developer platform offering a suite of tools to help easily build products on Solana. Mert joins Brian Friel to clear up common misconceptions about Solana, shares the latest opportunities for developers, and dives deep into state compression, which reduces the amount of on-chain storage required to store NFTs...

Often referred to as "the AWS of crypto" Alchemy provides the infrastructure that helps developers build cutting edge web3 applications. Product manager, Rob Boyle shares the latest tools Alchemy is building, the web2 companies that are starting to build in web3, and what it's like building for Multichain in episode 24 of The Zeitgeist. Show Notes:                            00:38 - Origin Story /...

Web3 games are taking off and Planet Mojo is one of the premiere titles leading the way. On Ep 23 of The Zeitgeist, CEO Mike Levine shares the web3 opportunity for game publishers, how digital ownership empowers gamers, and the future of community gaming.   About Planet Mojo: Planet Mojo is an ecosystem of interconnected games built by Mystic Moose and set inside a mysterious alien planet with an...

Launched in 2019, Rarible is one of the leading community-centric multichain NFT marketplaces. As an aggregated multichain marketplace, Rarible is unique in that it supports NFTs on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tezos, and Immutable X. Rarible also offers users the ability to create their own marketplaces in just a couple of clicks. Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Alex Salnikov sits down with B...

The Yakuverse is one of the most anticipated cyberpunk metaverse games being built on Solana. PapiChuloGrim , Chief Marketing Officer at Yaku Corp joins Brian Friel to talk about their approach to building open world games that facilitate social interactions and e-commerce, and what the future holds for metaverse games being built in web3.   Show Notes: 00:06 - Intro 01:13 - PapiChuloGrim backgrou...

With over 80% developer growth the past year, the Solana ecosystem has never been stronger. Chase Barker , Head of Developer Ecosystem at The Solana Foundation joins Brian Friel to talk about the current initiatives happening on Solana that excite him the most, along with the biggest opportunities he sees for Developers on Solana in episode 20 of The Zeitgeist.   Show Notes: 00:05 - Intro         ...

Security in crypto has never been more important. Blowfish.xyz makes it easy to identify & stop crypto fraud before it happens, and it is the engine that powers Phantom’s Transaction Previews. Blowfish Founder and CEO Fabio Berger joins Brian Friel to talk about some of the recent high profile hacks in crypto, what blowfish is doing to stop them, and how you can stay safe.   Show Notes: 00:55 - Ba...

@sol_idity , developer and creator of Solana Plays Pokemon joins Brian Friel to talk about how he created a community-controlled game of Pokemon where users can vote to press buttons in a turn-by-turn game via transactions on Solana.  Show Notes: 00:44 - What is Solana Plays Pokemon? 02:23 - Who he is /  Why build on Solana? 05:55 -  Surprises or challenges while building on Solana? 08:12 -  Strat...

Rea Dulcetta and Anton Restuta - Co-Founders of Sharky.fi join Brian Friel on the latest episode of The Zeitgeist. Sharky.fi is the first escrow-less, decentralized NFT lending protocol on Solana that brings DeFi liquidity to NFTs. Are you NFT-rich but SOL-poor? Sharky.fi allows you to instantly borrow SOL by using the NFTs in your wallet as collateral. For lenders who want to earn yield on their...

Nader Dabit, Director of Developer Relations at Aave and Lens ProtocoI talks with Brian Friel about his journey moving from developing in web2 to web3. From creating educational content and authoring one of the first "Intro to Solana" programming articles, to founding Developer DAO and building the infrastructure for the next generation of web3 social apps.   Show Notes: 00:49 - Intro 02:43 - Orig...

What do Nike, Starbucks, reddit, and AAA gaming studio 12am have in common? They all use Polygon to build in web3. Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt joined Brian Friel to discuss crypto's mainstream adoption and the future of web3 gaming on Episode 15 of The Zeitgeist. Show Notes: 01:36 -  Background / How he started working at Polygon? 05:09  - Why Polygon and web 3.0 gaming? 11:29 - Partnerships 16...

Helium is the first people-powered decentralized wireless network. In episode 14 of The Zeitgeist, Boris Renski, GM of Wireless at Nova Labs sits down with Brian Friel to discuss how crypto is enabling new ways to deploy wireless infrastructure.   Show Notes: 00:52  - Who is Boris Renski / Background  03:23 - What is Helium?                   06:44 - Catalyst behind creating a network 11:20 - Peop...

As the world's first move-to-earn NFT game, Genopets is making it fun and rewarding to live an active lifestyle. Co-founder and CEO Albert Chen joins Brian Friel to discuss Genopets' unique approach to web3 gaming.  Show Notes:  00:56 - What is GenoPets? 01:33 - Tracked by Mobile 03:00 - Geopets similar to Tamagotchi 03:44 - Background / Why build on Solana 06:56 - User demographics 08:33 - Thinki...

Jonas Hahn, an established game developer who won the Phantom Track in the Solana Summer Camp Hackathon joins Brian Friel to talk about web3 gaming and his work Combining Unity and Solana with his project SolPlay. Show Notes: 00:48 What is Solplay?              02:16  What are Deep Links?                               03:41  What was what attracted you first to Solana? 05:13  What is the state of...

Episode Notes: Solana Spaces founder and CEO Vibhu Norby sits down with Brian Friel to talk about creating crypto’s first interactive retail experience that aims to onboard the next wave of users to web3. Show Notes: Brian Friel (00:06): Hey everyone and welcome to the Zeitgeist. The show where we highlight the founders, developers, and designers for pushing the Web3 space. I'm Brian Friel, Develo...

Degenerate Ape Academy made history as the first major project to kickoff the Solana NFT phenomenon. Co-founder and head of product, CrassKitty joins Brian Friel to talk eggs, The Hatchening, and what to expect next in The Degeniverse.   Show Notes: 01:01 - Origin Story                      04:45 - Why she changed her mind of crypto 06:27 - What is special about DAA?        08:12 - The early days...

Brian Friel sits down with Star Atlas founder and CEO Michael Wagner to learn about what it's like building web3’s first giant strategy MMO on Solana.   Show Notes: 0:58   - What is Star Atlas?               03:44 - Background / Founders of SA       07:01 - Going for a AAA game              09:32 - Phantom integration in Star Atlas 10:20 - Recent events, achievements and releases 15:08 - The DAO ...