Episode 278: Devconnect 2025 with Mário Havel

Jan 16, 2026

Mário Havel, protocol support engineer at the Ethereum Foundation and co-founder of Bordel Hackerspace in Prague. He talks about running a community makerspace and funding it with an Ethereum crowdloan. He contrasts free software values with corporate open source influence. He connects protocol scalability, security, and developer fellowships to long-term sustainability.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Protocol Support Enables Ecosystem Progress

Protocol support coordinates diverse client teams to evolve Ethereum rather than writing every feature directly.
Mário frames his role as enabling research, testing, fellowships, and upgrades to keep the protocol moving forward.

ANECDOTE

Bordel: A Purposefully Messy Hackerspace

Bordel hackerspace began in Prague in 2020 as a messy creative community for makers, hackers, and artists.
The space runs workshops, shares tools like 3D printers, and insists on free/open tools for events like DJing using Mixxx.

INSIGHT

Free Means User Liberty First

Mário emphasizes 'free' in Free and Open Source Software as user liberty and anti-surveillance, not just pragmatics.
He links the philosophical roots to the GNU movement, seeing 'open source' as the pragmatic framing many prefer.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Guest

Mário Havel

Panelists

Eriol Fox | Victory Brown

Show Notes

In this episode of Sustain, host Eriol Fox and co-host Victory Brown are live at Devconnect Conference in Buenos Aires, with Mário Havel, protocol support at the Ethereum Foundation and co-founder of the Bordel Hackerspace in Prague. Mário shares his experience working in protocol support, contributing to the evolution and scalability of Ethereum. He dives into the significance of the Hackerspace 'Bordell' in Prague, discussing its role in fostering a creative and collaborative community focused on free and open source software. Mário also highlights the philosophical underpinnings of free software, emphasizing user freedom and security, and discusses the impact of corporate involvement in open source projects, the complexities of sustaining such initiatives, and the innovative “crowd-loaning” model used to fund their Hackerspace through Ethereum. Hit download now to hear more!

[00:00:40] Mário explains working at the Ethereum Foundation, his role on the protocol support team, the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship, and he introduces Bordel Hackerspace as a community space for hackers, makers, and artists.

[00:04:08] He elaborates on the Hackerspace which is explicitly free and open source software users and contributors and his free and open source software philosophy. Eriol reflects on her own journey learning what “free” really means in this context.

[00:07:54] Mário dives into how scalability, security, and new devs/fellowships link directly to sustainability.

[00:12:48] Mário discusses corporate influence on free/open source. He emphasizes the need for more neutral, community driven structures so projects can accept money without losing independence.

[00:15:25] Eriol contrasts joyful, playful hacker culture with the pressure many projects feel to “look corporate” to survive. Mário shares his personal stance: he avoids proprietary software and doesn’t use banks or KYC, preferring free/open monetary systems like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero.

[00:17:41] Mário details “crowdloaning” smart contracts they built on Ethereum. Eriol suggests many open source projects doing individual donation drives could learn from this crowdloaning model.

[00:21:10] Find out where you can follow Mário and the projects on the internet, and he spotlights the project GrapheneOS, a highly secure, privacy-respecting, easy-to-use mobile operating system.

Credits

Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound
Logistical support by Tina Arboleda from Digital Savvies

Special Guest: Mário Havel.

Support Sustain