How We're Gifting 100 Belugas
I have about 110 followers. ๐ญ
If I put 100 belugas up for public mint and hoped for the best, I'd be the guy posting "12/100 minted, LFG" for three weeks straight. We've all seen that guy. I was almost that guy.
So I flipped it. Invites first, gifts on purpose, then the public mint. Here's exactly where every beluga goes, and why.
The split (100 total)
| Bucket | Count | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Founder Invites | 30 | Builders, artists, voices and day-ones. The gifts come from here, and so does my own #013 |
| BB Invites | 10 | The pod: people I mod and build with, Spaces regulars, the guessing game |
| Public mint | 60 | Anyone, on mint day |
Total supply 100. Founder Invites 30. BB Invites 10. Public mint 60. Belugas move in silence.
That's 40 belugas going out by invite before anyone hits a mint button. For a first collection from an unknown artist, I care way more about getting belugas into the hands of real people than squeezing every last coin out of the mint. Every invite goes to a specific person for a specific reason. No spray-and-pray.
30 Founder Invites: builders, artists, voices and day-ones
The Founder Invites are hand-picked. This is where the one-of-one gifts come from: each one is themed for the person it's made for, and I post the reveal publicly.
#000 "CZ The Builder" is the first. Gold hard hat, hammer, stacking glowing blocks on Builder's Reef. Back in November 2025, rugged down to .012 SOL, I pinned a post called "swimming to BNB" asking CZ and BNB Chain for support. #000 is my thank-you for the builder energy, whether he ever sees it or not. No endorsement by CZ or Binance is implied. It's a gift, not a partnership.
I'm not publishing the full gift list. The reveals are the fun part, and I don't want anyone feeling put on the spot before they've even seen their beluga. But here are the kinds of people on it:
- My own circle. People I've modded with, built with and reposted every week. The pump.fun and fomo crowd. Small accounts that showed up for me. Honestly, these are the ones I'm most excited about.
- Builders across Solana, Zcash and Robinhood Chain. The people building the chains, wallets and privacy tech that keep the internet free and weird.
- NFT artists and culture. Fellow line artists and the people who kept "bring back NFTs" energy alive.
- Crypto news voices. The accounts that do the reading so the rest of us don't have to. ๐ญ
- Day-ones. The people who backed me before there was anything to back. Brand-kit clients. Piano-cover regulars. People who replied to the "leaving Solana with .012 SOL" post when it would've been easier to scroll past.
- A couple just for fun. Puns I physically could not resist. You'll see.
Also: anyone who buys a $350 brand kit during the campaign gets a free beluga from the Founder Invites. I'm saying that out loud so it's fully disclosed.
And #013 "The Condado Bad Boy" comes out of this bucket too. He's mine. Not for sale, ever. He's my reminder that I didn't quit. ๐ฅ
How gifts actually work
- I make the piece and post the reveal tagging the person.
- I don't airdrop it unsolicited. Random airdrops look like scams and wallets hide them as spam. I reply once: "it's yours if you want it, just drop a wallet or DM, no strings."
- I'll ask once and nudge once at most. No spamming big accounts.
- If someone says no, or nothing happens in 30 days, that beluga goes back into the invite pool for someone else.
- Recipients aren't asked to post anything. "Gifted to," never "partnered with."
10 BB Invites: the pod
For the people in the trenches with me: mods, collab contacts, the pump.fun and fomo community, the people from my Spaces, my piano-cover regulars, trenches survivors. Real ones.
Some go out through Space giveaways and the daily beluga guessing game, so keep an eye on my posts. Picked publicly. No "follow 10 accounts and tag 5 friends" stuff. Never.
How to get an invite
- DM me on X at @NftRaffi.
- Tell me which beluga you'd want and why. A sentence is fine. A rugged story gets sympathy points. ๐ญ
- I'll check. No bots, no farm accounts. I have nothing but time and .012 SOL.
What an invite gets you:
- You pick your beluga before the public mint, in first-come order. Since every one is a 1/1, picking the one you actually love matters more than any trait.
- Invite price: [INVITE PRICE] (gifts are free). Public: [PRICE].
- Unclaimed invites roll into the public mint.
60 public mint
Open to anyone on mint day.
- Chain: [CHAIN]
- Date: [DATE]
- Price: [PRICE]
- Where: BigBelugas.com only
If they don't all sell, unsold pieces stay listed at the same price. No panic price cuts. I'm not doing that to the people who already minted.
The BELUGA BITCH TAX
Resales carry a 35% creator royalty. I call it the BELUGA BITCH TAX.
If you sell, we'll remember. HODL with honor. Swim with the pod.
Honest footnote: royalty enforcement depends on the marketplace, and some cap creator royalties lower or make them optional.
The philosophy, in one line
Belugas live in pods and survive the cold by sticking together. A pod isn't 100 belugas in three wallets. It's 100 belugas spread across the people who make this space worth being in.
I'm not promising a floor, returns or "utility." What I'm promising: I'll keep drawing, I'll keep gifting, and holders get first access to what's next. Another collection is coming after this one, and holders see it first. ๐
Stay safe
- The only official link is bigbelugas.com.
- I will never DM you first. If "Raffi" DMs you a mint link, it's a scam. ๐ญ
- Never share your seed phrase. Not with me, not with anyone.
Want in? DM @NftRaffi.
Nobody swims alone. Still building. ๐๐ค
Raffi
Want in? DM @NftRaffi on X for an invite, then go meet the pod.