Ep. 35: Matej Zak - Self-Custody & Self-Sovereignty

My guest today is Matej Zak, the CEO of Trezor, a Bitcoin & Crypto hardware wallet company. We discussed the importance of self-custody of Bitcoin and the new products and services that Trezor has launched: The Trezor Safe 5 and “Trezor Expert''. We talked about Trezor’s company culture and open positions. Matej explains the key differences between holding an ETF and self-custody, highlighting the benefits of using a hardware wallet. We touched on the challenges of regulation and the attack on privacy, the challenges of operating a hardware business, and Trezor’s business cycles that correlate with Bitcoin’s bull & bear cycles. We also discussed governments and politicians reactions to Bitcoin, and ended with Bitcoin startups created as an antidote to Communism: Matej believes the Czech Republic has a high number of Bitcoin startups due to the people’s spirit and appreciation of freedom and sovereignty in light of its past communist oppressive regime. 

►► Trezor’s Safe 5 - use my code for a 5% discount: ⁠⁠https://affil.trezor.io/SHZa⁠⁠ 

►► Trezor Expert - 20% off for a limited time: ⁠⁠https://affil.trezor.io/SHZZ⁠⁠ 

► If you got value, please like, comment, share, follow/subscribe and support my work. Thank you!

-- CHAPTERS –

00:00 Behind the Scenes...

00:40 Introduction & Background

04:50 Matej’s Journey to CEO

09:40 Productivity vs. 9-5 Jobs

13:15 New: Trezor Safe 5

16:20 New: "Trezor Expert" Service 

19:15 Regulation and Self-Custody of Bitcoin

23:50 The Benefits of Self-Custody vs. ETF'ing

29:50 Developing User-Friendly Hardware Wallets 

32:05 Bitcoin-Centric & Supporting Other Cryptocurrencies

33:45 Lobbying Efforts with Institutions?

35:05 Politicians Endorsing Self-Custody

37:40 Challenges in Hardware Businesses: Global Chip Shortage

42:40 Being Bootstrapped & Holding Bitcoin Reserves 

44:44 Communism & Bitcoin Startups

► Matej’s talk from BTC Prague (June 2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVQ_Cy1f1VI 

-- SPONSORS –

►► Get your TREZOR wallet & accessories, with a 5% discount, using my code at checkout (get my discount code from the episode - yep, you’ll have to watch it): https://affil.trezor.io/SHUn 

►► Join me at Bitcoin Nashville with 10% off tickets (use code BTCIL): https://glnk.io/lr8q9/btcil 

 

-- LINKS –

Matej’s Twitter: https://x.com/matej_zak 

Trezor’s Twitter: https://x.com/trezor 

Trezor’s website: https://affil.trezor.io/SHUn

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