Nikita Cikaluk: A Non-stop Web3 Builder
Making connections, sharing European Web3 culture and climbing to the top.
Nikita Cikaluk, hailing from Latvia, brings European crypto creators and innovators together to learn, connect and grow. Founder of Rug Radio’s OriGensXYZ show with co-host rektAlice, he specializes in sharing the culture of Europe’s tight-knit and ascending Web3 community with the world. WagginWendy’s interview with Nikita highlights this leading entrepreneur’s drive and dedication.
What made you decide to host the OriGensXYZ show on Rug Radio, and how did you meet your co-host @rektAlice?
My decision to start my own show OriGensXYZ with co-host rektAlice, also known as Chana Kanzen, goes back to the first time I met Chana at Zebu Live in September, 2022. From the very beginning I knew that I wanted to educate people and learn together. Web3 is so early — it's going to take us years to adjust before we come to a finalized product — and I know there is a lot I can learn from people.
I joined Rug Radio the day that passes were launched, December 23, 2021, and I knew that one day I was going have my own show. I wanted to host it on the biggest decentralized media platform with people who I trusted and from whom I'd been learning since the early days, including Farokh, first on Clubhouse and later on Twitter. I started my show during the bear market, which I believe is the best time. While others are afraid, we're here building.
My co-host, rektAlice, is from London. When we met at the Zebu Live conference, we realized we had a lot in common and wanted to build something special that offered educational content and a place for others to connect in Web3. That’s how we came to OriGensXYZ.
Can you tell me about Web3 culture in Latvia and in your area of Europe generally?
The whole vision of OriGensXYZ is to bring together some of the biggest shakers and front runners of Web3, specifically in Europe.
As far as Web3 culture in Latvia, there is not much happening right now, though I do need to acknowledge some companies and friends from the traditional world that I’m advising and helping to develop in the Web3 space. Air Baltic was the first company to launch Bitcoin payments back in 2014 and one of the first to issue NFTs back in 2020. I’m a big supporter of their Planies NFT program, which is an award system they launched in October 2022. Also, there are a couple crypto trading companies in Latvia.
Europe is in general much more developed than Latvia. I want to highlight London, Paris, Lisbon as well as Warsaw — some of the biggest places. NFT Factory Paris is the largest community-based NFT project and now also a physical place. RektAlice, my OriGensXYZ co-host, founded London Women Leading Web3. Also, NFC (Non Fungible Conference) Summit in Lisbon, organized by John Karp, is the biggest art-centric conference in all of Portugal.
Still many people from outside of Europe don’t yet know what we're doing. We’re still small, yet very centric around our community and people in this space. It actually resembles New York about two years ago, but more community driven.
When I met Farokh together with Ovie and Mando in Paris this December at Ledger Open, I asked them what they thought of Europe. They agreed that it has a smaller but more authentic community, specifically Paris and London, which are on the way to becoming the new capitals and regions of Web3. That was also the direction of my chat with Matt Medved of NFT Now when I met him in Paris. United States OGs were coming to Europe or hadn’t been there for awhile, and they were positively shocked by how developed we are. With OriGenzXYZ, we want to show that Europe has its own authentic approach. We’re going to highlight original stories of some of the biggest OG's and developers based here in Europe who are shaping the whole Web3 space from Europe.
Nikita with Nico Fara at the @thefabricant breakfast @NFT_NYC, How did you get involved in Web3?
I started my journey in Web3 back in 2017, like many others, through Bitcoin. Later on I moved to altcoins. Then, around 2019-2020, I realized there was much more than just crypto, that there were also smart contracts, DAOs, NFTs and the like. I started getting more involved in everything happening in the space.
As a social engineer or connector in this space, I needed to make sure I was at the center of everything happening in Web3 at all times — the guy who can connect you with big funds when you need to launch a new project. At the beginning of November 2022, I was at NFT London presenting on stage with three VC representatives from India, Italy and the UK, all of whom are my clients in Web3 and whom I'm advising and helping. I also help connect people with media. As a contributor to Forbes and through my cooperation with Cointelegraph, the biggest media brand, I’m in a position to grow your project.
Lastly, being a member of different communities implies that I need to be active both on-stage and off. I’ve been an advisor for NFT NYC, an advisor for Paris Blockchain Week — the biggest French blockchain conference that had 7,000 people per day last year, and an advisor for NFC Summit in Lisbon. I’m also active on all fronts when it comes to NFT digital collectibles and digital fashion. So, in summary, I started in Web3 just by witnessing what was going on, later moved on to trading and investing, and now am a social contract engineer and connector in the space.
Nikita with John Karp and friends
How does your sales and marketing background influence your work in Web3?
First, I know how to position myself because that's something I've been doing for my clients in traditional business for years.
When I was at the university, I was always having problems with my studies. I was failing my first examinations because I was too busy already building my brands, already being active. I remember that I had 30,000 business connections on LinkedIn that year. People were saying, “you are crazy, you need to study,” but I actually had my first big international clients from the U.S., Australia and Canada. Fortunately, I finished my university on time with no gap years. And at the end of my studies, I already had my marketing agency and activities that later on helped me develop my brand in Web3.
Can you tell me about writing for FORBES magazine?
I started writing for Forbes because at first, I connected a couple of promising startups from the Baltics with the magazine. More than two years ago, Forbes made me an offer to start writing about all activities happening right now in the Web3 space related to crypto, NFTS, and the metaverse concept.
Right now, I contribute on a monthly basis regarding some of the biggest public trends that are concerning to me and my communities. I write about what inspires me in Web3, which usually happens after big conferences where I’m speaking, private events or project launches where I’m invited — not to shill the project but to look at the whole industry and Web3 through the lens of the project. That’s how I started writing about things like digital fashion in Web3, Web3 gaming, DAOs and the difference between traditional gaming and Web3 gaming.
Who inspires you in the Web3 space?
The people who innovate the space the most, the people who take the most risk are those who inspire me. Some examples would be gmoney and his 9dcc brand, the first Web3 luxury fashion house, which is also backed up by a traditional physical vault where you can store your digital fashion goods and take loans based on these goods worth thousands of dollars.
Some of the other innovators would be my friends from London, Holly Wood, and Mohamed Ezeldin, the head of tokenomics at Animoca brands, also Sébastien Borget, from The Sandbox. Some of the people I know both as professionals in Web3 and who work 24/7 bring amazing results to their brands, but at the same time they know how to relax and be active in their traditional lives, going out and being together with friends. I believe it’s really important to make the distinction between Web2 and Web3. It’s important not to erase this line between the two worlds.
Do you consider yourself an NFT collector or investor?
I would consider myself more as an NFT and Web3 investor than collector because I'm investing, first of all, my time and energy right now understanding the technology behind all of these trends, understanding what the next move will be, the next step to build this community and be relevant in the Web3 space. Also, I'm investing by advising, being part of some innovative projects around NFTs, around Web3 community development, around decentralized media.
But also, I'm a collector in a certain way. A bit less than a year ago, I started collecting art that I really loved — art of emerging artists mainly from Paris and Lisbon, who I know in person. These people had only a couple of pieces of their art before Web3, but right now with all this technology and generative AI, they’re able to create what they have been dreaming of for years now. I'm happy to support those people on their journey in Web3 - some that not many others know right now, some young artists in their 20s, but who will show themselves in the next three to five years.
Do you have a favorite NFT?
My favorite type of NFTs are the ones that bring some utility through club access or connecting traditional brands and businesses with consumers directly— brands like Adidas, BMW, and Starbucks— that directly allow you to show your loyalty to the brand on the blockchain and get rewards long term.
Nevertheless, when it comes to my favorite NFT, I would go with the generative art piece created by Agoria called {Compend-AI-SX}. It was a collab dropped together with Ledger. Even though it's not one of one — it's a big collection of 10K supply that was granted to all Ledger market NFT holders —the technology behind it allows you to combine neighboring pieces. So if you own pieces #7 and #8, you can combine them into one, which is something really innovative. Also, I know Sebastian Devaud (Agoria) in person. He's a wonderful artist and DJ musician based in Paris. We're good friends, we hang out, and it’s much more interesting to actually follow artists’ and developers’ journeys when you know them in person and see how hard they work for their life.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I want to make sure that everyone has a chance to learn more about my journey in Web3 and ask me any questions through my recently launched podcast “We” in Web3, that you can find on YouTube.
Make sure you join me and rektAlice on our Rug Radio show OriGensXYZ, which airs every Tuesday at 2:00 PM GMT British time or 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. Learn by developing the space with us, because at end of the day we're building this space by people for people, something we will be using years from now, and it's really fun to learn and build together. Plus, you can also follow me on Twitter.
Did you know that one summer Nikita set a goal of reading 100 business books over a one-year period, but instead conquered them all in 100 days by reading one a day? Needless to say, he now writes more than he reads! Thanks, Nikita, for sharing your energy and enthusiasm in the Web3 space!