The Pod Is Here: 100 Belugas From My Last .012 SOL
In November 2025, my wallet said .012 SOL. Not 12 SOL. Point-zero-one-two. I'd just been rugged in the Solana trenches. ๐ญ I could have logged off for good. Instead I kept drawing, and started vibe-coding. Almost a year later, that turned into 100 belugas, and today I finally get to introduce them.
How I got here (the short, painful version)
I was a mod and collab manager around pump.fun and fomo, helping launches, hyping friends, watching charts go vertical and then go to zero. One day the zero was mine.
So I posted that I was leaving Solana with my last .012 SOL, and I meant it as a joke and a goodbye at the same time. That same month I pitched CZ with nothing but a dream and a terrible wallet balance. Then I did the only thing left to do: I rebuilt. Line art every day. Vibe-coding my own tools. Making brand kits for other builders. Playing piano covers at night. About 110 followers, zero shortcuts, still building.
What Big Belugas is
Big Belugas is 100 one-of-one belugas, #000 to #099. Every beluga is the only one of its kind, with its own name and its own little story.
Most of the pod is generative neon line art: one beluga, a big pile of accessories and glowing worlds, and a generator I vibe-coded that remixes them into 100 one-of-ones. Two are hand-curated (#000 and #013). And the collection mixes that neon line art with a cute cartoon edition, so some of the pod gets a second look.
Why belugas? Because belugas live in pods. They talk to each other constantly, they travel together, and they survive the cold by sticking close. That's the whole collection in one sentence: it's about surviving, and swimming together. Nobody swims alone.
#000: CZ The Builder
The first beluga wears a gold hard hat, carries a hammer, and stacks glowing blocks on Builder's Reef "so the whole pod always has somewhere to grow." It's a 1/1 gift for CZ, a thank-you to the builders who made this free, open internet worth fighting for. No strings attached, and no endorsement implied. Whether he ever sees it or not, builders build.
#013: The Condado Bad Boy
This one is mine, and he is NOT humble. ๐ญ Red boxing gloves, gold chain, shades on, shadowboxing the surf at Condado Beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He trash-talks the waves. He manifests destiny and victory out loud every morning, whether anybody's listening or not. And 13 is still his lucky number.
He's basically me with better cardio. I got rugged down to .012 SOL, got knocked flat in the trenches, and the bell didn't care. I got up anyway. Got rugged, still building. #013 is what that feels like with gloves on.
Also, real science, not cope: belugas recognize themselves in mirrors. A study published May 20, 2026 in PLOS One, and reported by National Geographic, found aquarium belugas checking themselves out in a mirror: watching their own barrel rolls, busting out what the researchers literally called a "pec shimmy," and blowing bubbles just to bite them. Main-character energy, scientifically confirmed. ๐ญ
So yeah. #013 looked in the mirror and saw a champion. He's in the cartoon edition too, from the beach to the belt. He isn't for sale. He stays in my corner, as the reminder that I didn't quit.
Meet a few more of the pod
- #002 Hoku the Wanderer. Carries everything the pod might need along the moonlit surface.
- #005 Moss One-Timer. Dangles the puck past every eel inside a glowing crystal cave. One of 11 hockey belugas in the pod.
- #029 Waffles Encore. Plays midnight piano covers over the coral gardens, with a baby beluga tucked close.
- #038 Fern of the Tides. Wears a crown but shares every snack. Royalty done right.
- #072 Opal the Muralist. Leaves neon murals between the swaying kelp.
- #091 Pip Lamplight. Keeps the dark from feeling lonely beneath the Arctic ice shelf.
Trait highlights
- 12 backgrounds. Ten shared worlds: Kelp Forest, Ice Shelf, Bioluminescent Bay, Synthwave Seafloor, Aurora Surface, Crystal Cave, Starfield Abyss, and more. Plus two that appear exactly once: Builder's Reef (#000) and Condado Beach (#013).
- 11 neon palettes, from Gold and Ice to Toxic Lime, Galaxy and Neon Rainbow.
- 15 piano players, 13 painters, 11 hockey belugas and exactly one boxer. Yes, the pod has my hobbies.
- 26 belugas swim with a baby beluga, 21 with a school of fish, and 19 with jellyfish lighting the way.
- Crowns, halos, flower crowns, captain hats, beanies, party hats, exactly one hard hat, and exactly one gold chain.
- Two hand-curated pieces: #000 and #013.
How the 100 find homes
I want this pod spread wide, not stuck in a few wallets. 100 total: 30 Founder Invites, 10 BB Invites, 60 Public Mint.
- Founder Invites (30). Hand-picked: builders, artists and voices who kept the space worth building in, plus the day-ones who showed up when I had nothing to show. The 1/1 gifts come from here (offered, never forced, never a partnership), and so does #013, which stays with me.
- BB Invites (10). For the pod: the people I mod with, build with and talk to every day, Spaces regulars and the guessing game.
- Public Mint (60). Open to anyone who wants to join the pod.
Resales carry a 35% royalty, the BELUGA BITCH TAX. If you sell, we'll remember. HODL with honor. Swim with the pod. (Royalty enforcement depends on the marketplace.) Belugas move in silence.
Where will the pod live? Chain reveal soon
I haven't locked it in yet, and I want to be straight with you about the options:
- Solana is where I came from, and where most of my people still are. Cheap mints, great tools, and a comeback story that writes itself.
- Robinhood Chain went live this summer. It's EVM-based, OpenSea already supports it, and its builders are openly saying memes are welcome.
- Zcash fits the free-internet, privacy-first ideals I care about most, but NFTs there are still early: native private (shielded) NFTs aren't available on Zcash today, and Zcash NFTs right now mean Zerdinals inscriptions.
It could be one of these, or a combo. The reveal is coming soon: [CHAIN]. Mint date: [MINT DATE]. Price: [PRICE] (invites: [INVITE PRICE]).
How to join the pod
- Get an invite: DM @NftRaffi on X. Tell me which beluga you'd want and why.
- Everything official lives at BigBelugas.com. That's the only mint link. I will never DM you first, and I will never ask for your seed phrase.
- What's next: Big Belugas is the first pod, not the last. Another collection is already taking shape, and holders will see it first. ๐
- Side quests: I make $350 brand kits for builders and projects (DMs open). Main YouTube is @nftraffi; piano covers live at @halfgufa.
A year ago I had .012 SOL, a sketchbook and a laptop. Today I have 100 belugas and a pod. Thank you for swimming with me.
Still building. ๐๐ค
Raffi
Want in? DM @NftRaffi on X for an invite, then go meet the pod.