E179: Helius CEO: These 3 Crypto Coins Are MASSIVELY Underpriced (2026 Cycle)

**Mert Mumtaz** (0:00)
Solana is very clearly the obvious choice, so how come people aren't seeing it this way? It's because you're getting your source from CT, and CT is dominated by traders. And what do traders know? A trader can always make money by following the wave and maybe seeing certain things earlier than others. But fundamentally, the people who are actually deep down in the ecosystem are the ones who can get enough conviction at $8.

**Kevin Follonier** (0:19)
What's the thesis for Solana in 2026?

**Mert Mumtaz** (0:22)
Since it's a general chain.

**Kevin Follonier** (0:23)
Mert Mumtaz, the co-founder and CEO of Helius.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:27)
A leading infrastructure provider for Solana, the builder advancing internet-native capital markets and blockchain innovation.

**Mert Mumtaz** (0:34)
A few friends asked me to look at the new scaling roadmap that Zcash has. It was out of the top 100 as a coin. And I looked at it and I was like, Oh, shit, that is actually quite interesting. Just like Solana at $8, Zcash at $18 was the exact same thing. I don't do this game of what's everybody talking about and then maybe let's do some rotation games. It's more like does it have the physics? Does it have the incentives? If the answer is yes, then that's your edge.

**Kevin Follonier** (0:55)
I don't hold any near coin. What am I failing to understand?

**Mert Mumtaz** (0:59)
I don't think near is there today, but I do think near has a lot of potential. It's not as high of a conviction plate that I have with Zcash and Solana. But first of all, what are the set of things that you want to look at when you're evaluating a project? But if you look at crypto as a whole, it is one of the only things that stands out to me for how undervalued it is compared to the things above it.

**Kevin Follonier** (1:16)
Solana was older talk with the last two cycles. Can you tell us while the token was down only, what has been happening behind the scenes to prepare the ecosystem for the future?

**Mert Mumtaz** (1:26)
Yes, well.

**Kevin Follonier** (1:31)
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How are you doing?

**Mert Mumtaz** (1:59)
I'm a little sick to be honest. Nothing infectious, just stomach. But otherwise good.

**Kevin Follonier** (2:06)
Life is good. Still on the zines.

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:10)
I cycle. I'm on it sometimes, I'm not on it sometimes. Because otherwise it's just you build up a tolerance.

**Kevin Follonier** (2:17)
What do you do when you're not on zines? What else do you take or do?

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:24)
Just coffee.

**Kevin Follonier** (2:25)
Coffee? A lot of coffee? Until 4 or 5 a.m.?

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:29)
No, I have a routine. I go from coffee and then black tea and then green tea and then diet coke.

**Kevin Follonier** (2:37)
But you have this, I mean, I don't know if it's true. I was talking with one of the Zcash guys, he was telling me you have this sleep cycle where you work at night. Is it still the case?

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:51)
Is it what?

**Kevin Follonier** (2:52)
Still the case?

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:53)
Yes.

**Kevin Follonier** (2:54)
So you work until 5, 6 a.m.?

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:55)
Who are you talking to from Zcash? Dev, maybe? Zuko?
Whatever. Yeah, I mean, because...
Arjun. Oh, yeah, Arjun. Yeah, I mean, Arjun is completely opposite. He goes to bed at 8 p.m. It's actually crazy. Well, I invite people over in Dubai and then, like, everyone will just start and he's like, I'm going to bed. But yeah, we start... I go to bed at like 4 or 5 p.m. usually.

**Kevin Follonier** (3:25)
Is it like the... Some people say ADHD brain works better at night.

**Mert Mumtaz** (3:30)
Oh, for sure.

**Kevin Follonier** (3:30)
Is this what you have?

**Mert Mumtaz** (3:31)
Well, it works better for some things. It doesn't work better for other things. For writing and creativity, which is useful in marketing and Twitter, and even writing memos to the team or strategy docs, I think it's useful to have to do stuff at night. For super analytical stuff, like actually looking at the numbers, it's better to do in the morning.