Nomadz

Nomadz is a Solana-native travel booking aggregator that gives crypto users access to discounted hotel inventory, USDC checkout, and a portable on-chain travel identity built from their booking history.

The Problem

Traditional hotel booking platforms are built for general consumers paying with cards. They have no native support for crypto payments, no portable reputation layer, and no reason to reward loyalty within the Solana ecosystem. For the growing population of digital nomads, remote workers, and Web3 builders who organize their lives around hackathons, conferences, and coliving spaces, those platforms offer nothing tailored to their actual lifestyle or payment infrastructure.

Nomadz was built to close that gap. It layers a Solana-native identity and rewards system on top of a conventional accommodation aggregator, letting users earn verifiable on-chain credentials simply by booking travel through the platform.

Core Mechanism: Nomad ID

Every booking a user completes on Nomadz is recorded on-chain and feeds into a Nomad ID, a persistent on-chain travel profile tied to the user's wallet. As bookings accumulate, the Nomad ID accumulates XP (experience points), unlocks achievement badges, and advances the user through levels on a public leaderboard.

The gamification engine runs on Metaplex Core, Solana's NFT standard. Achievements and badges are minted as NFTs, so they live in users' wallets, are transferable, and can be read by other Solana applications. MadLads NFT holders receive XP boosts when they connect their Backpack wallets, meaning social capital earned in one community translates into tangible perks on Nomadz.

The first public version (Phase 0) shipped with profiles, Nomad ID setup, quests, XP, badges, and leaderboard infrastructure. A full V2 launched in December 2025 adding the complete discounted-pricing catalog and USDC checkout.

Accommodations and Pricing

The booking catalog draws from 320-plus B2B rate partners, the same supplier tier used by travel agencies and corporate booking desks. Users have access to over 2.6 million accommodation options globally. Because Nomadz accesses wholesale rates, prices are typically up to 60% below what retail booking sites show for the same properties.

Payments can be made in USDC on Solana (with zero off-ramp fees and prices approximately 5% below the fiat equivalent) or via Stripe for users who prefer card payments. The platform covers APAC, Europe, LATAM, Middle East, Africa, and North America.

Beyond self-service search and booking, Nomadz operates a Travel Agent concierge service, a human-assisted option for complex itineraries or group travel, aimed at conference organizers and coliving operators.

Mobile and Hackathon Validation

Mobile-native booking flows were developed during 2025 and validated publicly: Nomadz won the Solana Mobile Hackathon in September 2025, confirming both the technical implementation and the relevance of a crypto-native travel product to the Solana Mobile audience.

Team and Backing

Nomadz was founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs Ivan Maltsev and Vlad Poltavets. The company is registered in the British Virgin Islands and operates globally.

In March 2025 the Solana Foundation issued Nomadz a convertible grant, marking the first time the Foundation had backed a Ukrainian startup. Kumeka Team joined as an early investor in the same round. In April 2025, Nomadz received a separate Metaplex DAO grant specifically for its on-chain gamification engine.

Core infrastructure partners include Circle (USDC), Privy (wallet infrastructure), Metaplex (NFT standard), Solana Name Service, and Solana Pay. Community partners span most of the major Solana ecosystem brands: Superteam, IslandDAO, RadiantsDAO, Jupiter, Backpack, and MadLads.

Ecosystem Role and Community Events

Nomadz served as official travel partner for Solana Breakpoint 2025, coordinating accommodation for attendees. The platform has built a physical community layer around the Solana conference circuit, co-organizing events including a Tour de Sol cycling route across Spain (over 3,000 km), Solana Sailing Season 1 in the Balearic Islands, and two developer bootcamps held throughout 2025.

The Web3 travel population concentrates predictably at a handful of recurring venues: Breakpoint, Solana Crossroads, APEX, and Solana Prospera. Nomadz builds its user base incrementally by being the infrastructure layer at those gatherings before expanding to the broader market.

Token and Audit Status

No native token had been publicly launched as of available sources. The platform uses USDC as its primary payment and reward-settlement currency. No independent smart contract audit has been publicly announced.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

Nomadz occupies a consumer-facing category, hotel booking, that is underrepresented in Solana's application layer relative to DeFi and NFT infrastructure. Its bet is that on-chain identity, community partnerships, and a focus on the conference-going Solana builder population can generate a defensible user base that generic Web2 travel sites cannot replicate. By building Nomad ID as an interoperable Solana primitive rather than a closed loyalty program, the platform positions itself to become a shared social signal across the communities it partners with over time.