In my last post, we talked about my journey into the Lightning Network, so nothing more logical than to start the real series with ZBD, the app that showed me a better way to work with Bitcoin.

Zebedee was founded in 2019 by Simon Cowell (CEO), André Neves (CTO) and Christian Moss (Head of R&D) in Hoboken, NJ. Their idea was to build a place where game developers and gamers could create and share values in and out of the game environment.

And I think they are doing a great job, right now they are one of the most popular lightning wallet, tied with Wallet of Satoshi with more than 500.000 Android downloads.

Their games are doing as fine as their wallet, Bitcoin Miner (FumbGames - 2022) reached 1 million downloads at Play Store, followed by SaruTobi (MandelDuck - 2014) and Club Bitcoin Solitaire (Thundr - 2023) with 100,000 downloads.

Right now they have lots of games, a podcast player (Fountain), a Chrome extension that pays you to look at ads (Slice), and a gamefied ripoff of TikTok (PopReel) for those who aren't into games. Everyone can find a way to get some sats with ZBD.

As I mentioned earlier, ZBD was my doorway into the Lightning Network. I don't remember how I found out about the app, but I've been using it as a wallet since 2022. I've tested some of their early games and saw their evolution so far. One of the things that made me stay with them was how easy it was to receive and send money, and how easy it was to send my bitcoins to an app that converts them into my local currency. Unfortunately, I can't pay my bills with Bitcoin, directly, so turning them into fiat is still the way to go, sometimes.

To be more concise, I made a list of points I love (or don't) about this app and will talk about them in a more detailed way. Let us dive in.

Pros: I love how they made a nice gamer-like interface for the app. I love how they organized all the buttons and important features on the home page. You have a separate tab for your wallet, games, other ways to earn (surveys, social media, referral codes), and the social area of ZBD.

Cons: I liked how visible my wallet balance is, it was just a detail in the corner. But I feel like I'm way more exposed, anyone around me could see my balance. It would be nice to have a way to censor it. There's an option that lets you hide some information, but for me, it only hides my transactions, and it's pretty hard to find this option. (I manually hid my balance here for my privacy)

Pros: Lots of games for you to choose from! From games designed specially for ZBD to some well-known games from the Play Store. It's a nice way to boost some indie game developers. And ZBD also has a streaming platform that monetizes live streams with Bitcoin, helping even more the game community.

Cons: Right when ZBD introduced their first games, I was getting pretty divided by them. Some look pretty interesting and well done, and others, are just some weird ripoffs from famous games. Like 'Lightning Crush', just a weird Candy Crush ripoff. Right now they added some new features that let you enjoy some famous games, not related to Bitcoin, and still earn some sats. But it's just weird, some of them you have to reach level 200 in 30 days to get your sats, and let's be honest, you need a lot of free time to do such a task. There are some new and beautiful games, but I still have to test them longer to give a fair review.

Pros: If games are not your thing, or you just want to make some money while listening to a podcast or going through the web, you have something for you too. Right now ZBD has three main apps that can give you some extra sats, directly to your wallet. Fountain rewards you for listening to podcasts, and you can support your favorite creators by sending some sats to them. Slice gives you 'slices' for every ad you see while browsing, and you can turn these slices into sats and send them to your wallet. And finally, an app that combines games and social media: PopReel, where you can see some short videos, post your own, and play a game where you need to match the video with an emoji. All the options give you some bonus sats just for doing what you would do daily, but with no rewards.

Cons: So... Where do I start? Slice is a great extension, you can adjust it to show you max adds and they will not bother you. There are small ads here and there, you will not even notice it. I added it in all my browsers and I let it run forever, and sometimes I withdraw some sats from there, normally 100 sats, but it can be more, the longer you stay on your computer, the more sats you can earn. And to be pretty honest, that's all I can compliment ZBD apps. I feel like Fountain is my kryptonite, I can't make it work, I tried a bazillion times but never got a single sat from it. And I feel like all the podcasts you can find there are tech or crypto-related, and they are really technical, so it's not everyone's cup of tea. But I promise I will make it work and give a better review soon. And PopReel... Oh lord... The idea is pretty nice, it gives you something else to do than just scrolling all day long, and it's fun. But sometimes it's just so random. You can see a video of a cute puppy, with a heart emoji among the options, but then it tells you the right option is a sunglasses emoji. But trust me, if you don't know which emoji to choose, always choose the fire one. Another issue is how they let anyone post everything, you can see lots and lots of reposts from TikTok, with the watermark and the name of the original poster right there for everyone to see.

Pros: Besides all the games you have to earn some sats, ZBD gives you an opportunity to do some small tasks and be paid for them. There are a lot of alternatives. You can participate in daily polls with the ZBD community, do some surveys at BitLabs, and get some satoshis as cashback using Rewards Bunny. It's a pretty variety of services, you can choose whatever you would like to do, and they even joined BitRefill, where you can change some sats for restaurant and hotel discounts, pay monthly subscribe to your favorite streaming services, and buy international eSims to use on your travels. Not only you can earn extra sats, but you can use them in your daily life without exchanging them for fiat.

Cons: I use Rewards Bunny and BitRefill from time to time, I like how easy it is to use. But to be honest, Bunny Rewards is not even listed on the ZBD app, I found out about it on their website. Which made me wonder if they are still working together. For Playtime and Daily Poll, you need to really commit to it to be rewarded, and when you do, you get a small amount. To get the reward from Daily Poll you need to answer daily questions for at least 3 days to start earning something. And you can't lose a day. You can watch some videos, but they will only get you 4 sats per video. Bitlabs is a well-known survey service, you can find it on multiple platforms. But to be honest, I don't like surveys. They take a lot of time to answer, they ask for lots of personal information and it's not guaranteed you will receive any sats. You can be declassified at any moment and not even get a single sat for your participation. For me, it's not worth it.

Pros: The idea of a Nostr service right there, was really exciting. It's easy to post, you don't need an extra app, and you don't even have to worry about making a new account. And you can be rewarded with some sats from the community.

Cons: But the reality is, that the social tab is pretty much abandoned. No one comments on other people's posts, and no one tips anyone. Even ZBD founders don't post there anymore (the ones that have an account there). And to be even worse, it's full of bots, scammers, spam, and some pictures that are a little bit too spice for being there (probably just bait).

ZBD made me fall in love with Bitcoin again and made me feel safe about my money. Before that, I was getting some sats but they got stuck and I couldn't use them nor even send them to a trusted wallet. It has its weak points, sometimes it looks kinda of abandoned, but I can see how the ZBD team is trying to make it better in every update. I really wish they could adjust some of their weak points. But I can see how some of the 'cons' I mentioned are not really ZBD's fault, maybe it's just how it works. I'm gonna keep using it and supporting it, and I'm excited to see their next upgrades.