Company Name: Vexel
Founders: Lia Petrášová, Marek Palatinus, and Pavol Rusnak
Establishment date: June 2022
Headquarters location: Prague, Czech Republic
The amount of Bitcoin held in the vault: The majority of the treasury is Bitcoin
Number of employees: 5 full-time staff and 5 part-time staff/volunteers
Website: https://vexl.it/
Public or private? private
Lea Petrášová is a coding expert with over 10 years of experience in the world of software development.
This made her an ideal candidate for aiding creativity Vexelan open source application that enables users to perform peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions in a relatively easy way.
With Vexl, Petrášová and the team from Satoshi Labs (known for creating Trezor hardware wallets) has created what Petrášová calls a “social network” that connects buyers and sellers of bitcoin via the contacts on their phones as well as the contacts of their contacts. Furthermore, communication between users is private, and Vexl does not charge any fees for the service it provides.
Petrášová and the Vexl team are on a mission to enable people to use Bitcoin the way it was meant to be used – without KYC and, in particular, without third-party intermediaries involved in the process.
We spoke with Petrášová to get more details about Vexl’s mission.
Frank Curva: Please tell us about Vexl’s mission.
Lia Petrasova: We believe that without freedom of action, we have no other rights. Bitcoin gives us the ultimate ticket into a financial system that is not inherently exploitative and oppressive.
However, in order to serve this purpose, it cannot be linked to an individual’s identity. We provide our users with the option to buy or sell Bitcoin peer-to-peer without KYC, in a way that is not only private, but also accessible, easy to use and secure.
Curva: What were you doing before Vexl?
Petrasova: I used to be a project manager for a small venture fund that also operated as a software house. In 2018, I launched a spin-off project focused exclusively on web3 development, especially in DeFi. Although the projects were academically interesting, after selling the company, I realized that I wanted to devote my time and energy solely to Bitcoin.
Curva: How did the idea for Vexl come about and how did you get involved?
Petrasova: This idea was actually brewing clay(co-founder of SatoshiLabs, Trezor, and Vexl) for a few years. As one of the industry’s regulators, it anticipated regulations long before they came into effect.
When he found out that I had recently quit my previous job, he reached out to me and pitched what would become Vexl, giving me the opportunity to take over executive management of the project. I didn’t hesitate for a moment.
Curva: Vexl seems to be embracing a lot of the Bitcoin ethos. It is an app that allows peer-to-peer trading, does not require a lot of KYC processes and is open source. Why was it important for you to design it this way?
Petrasova: We are not just Bitcoiners; We are also cypherpunks and activists.
When we came up with Vexl, we were solving our own problem: how to buy or sell Bitcoin without KYC, expensive fees, or significant security and safety risks.
We couldn’t design a product that we wouldn’t want to use ourselves. There was absolutely no debate about the nature of the software, we knew from day one that it had to be open source, KYC-free, and peer-to-peer.
However, we spent a lot of time researching and balancing the “trilemma” of ease of use, security, and privacy.
Curva: What was it like working with Pavol Rusnak, a legend in the Bitcoin/crypto wallet space?
Petrasova: Humility. He’s the kind of thinker you can ask any question, and he’ll give an original answer. The range of his knowledge and interests is very impressive. However, he approaches people and projects with kindness, respect, and most importantly, a sense of humor. It’s really inspiring.
Curva: You don’t plan to monetize Vexl. Why?
Petrasova: We believe strongly in the importance of our mission and are committed to making it as accessible as possible to everyone.
Curva: How will Vexl continue to exist if you don’t monetize it?
Petrasova: We depend directly on donations and grants. I have deep gratitude and respect for everyone who has helped us achieve Vexl’s success. But thanks to open source, if we fail for whatever reason, I want to believe that someone else will pick up where we left off and keep moving forward.
Curva: Vexl is essentially a messaging app, something that connects buyers and sellers to transact with each other much like LocalBitcoins did. Why did you create something like this now?
Petrasova: Because we clearly saw the need. Think about it – Bitcoin is currently the sixth largest monetary asset, and aspires to become a universal, global store of value.
Governments, through various third parties and financial institutions, can create registries of Bitcoin holders. These individuals can then be censored, prosecuted, taxed, and their property controlled, compromised, or even banned.
Knowing the identities of Bitcoin users weakens Bitcoin’s ability to function as a store of value independent of state authority. This was the first part of our motivation.
The second part of our motivation was more practical: every time I gave orange pills to someone and didn’t want to send them to the exchange, I didn’t have a good alternative. My options were to either sell my bitcoin or do an extensive search to find someone else who could.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of platforms like LocalBitcoins. But as someone who has never bought Bitcoin via Know Your Customer (KYC) or registered on an exchange, I know first-hand the limitations that come with options like these.
Curva: How is Vexl different from other P2P applications like Hodl Hodl, Bisq, and Peach Bitcoin?
Petrasova: Well, first of all, we’re a non-profit, so we operate in a completely different space. I do not see the other solutions as competing, but rather as complementary.
The real innovation offered by Vexl is our unique reputation model. In our marketplace, you can only view anonymous offers from your contacts and their contacts. Until both parties decide to reveal their identity, you don’t know who the other person is, but you can always find out how many mutual contacts you share and who those people are, and eventually ask them for a reference.
This allows you to better assess the counterparty’s individual risks, which is almost impossible when you’re connecting two strangers from opposite ends of the world – not to mention it can be downright dangerous if you’re using a colony EFT.
If you really think about it, we’ve been able to bring real reputation to the app. This social aspect – human interactions and experience – cannot be replaced by any technology. That’s why Vexl has no guarantee, no fees, and no need to already own Bitcoin in order to join.
Finally, I’m particularly proud of our user experience. While creating Vexl, I kept asking myself: “Can my aunt use this without any hiccups?” This mindset has shaped our user interface, and I believe it is more user-friendly than anything else out there.
Curva: Why doesn’t Vexl pursue decentralization of its backend?
Petrasova: We are a non-profit organization with very lean operations. In a small team like ours, we have to think twice when choosing what to prioritize.
Although decentralizing the backend is something we will focus on in the future, our backlog is now full of more pressing application improvements.
The great thing is that Vexl has actually become politically decentralized. Anyone who doesn’t want to rely on my decisions can simply take the code and change it as they see fit.
Curva: Why does Vexl ask for phone numbers?
Petrasova: If you zoom out, you’ll see that Vexl is after all a social network. Anyone who has tried to build one from scratch will agree that it is a very difficult task. So, we chose a different path: why not build on an existing network? But then came a bigger question: Which?
We also wanted something that wouldn’t go away anytime soon and would be widely adopted around the world.
The answer was clear to us: use phone numbers and contact lists. From there we just had to find a way to use it while keeping it private and secure.
Curva: Have you ever seen mass adoption of Vexl or do you think the average person would find going to a regulated exchange like Kraken more convenient?
Petrasova: Sometimes I’m asked what my biggest fear is as a Bitcoin CEO, and my answer is always “ignorance.” People often don’t care about financial freedom until it’s too late.
However, nothing is better marketable for us than for the current financial system to become unbearably unusable and for trade to become increasingly permissible. From that perspective, it would be a nice world if tools like Vexl became obsolete.
But Vexl was invented, and it couldn’t be uninvented. Perhaps it will be used for peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions. Or it may be used in the gig economy or to pay for goods with Bitcoin.
Since we introduced Categories in the marketWe have witnessed the boom of circular economies. I build Vexl for everyone who has the courage to claim their financial sovereignty – even if they only serve a small community of users.
Curva: Where do you see the most adoption of the app so far? Why do you think people in these areas are adopting it?
Petrasova: Most of our users are from Czech Republic and Slovakia. I think the success has a lot to do with the history of these countries and their economic isolation during communist times. There is a long tradition of people hedging against oppression with stronger currencies and participating in the gray economy. In addition, SatoshiLabs’ support definitely helped us a lot during the launch, especially in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where SatoshiLabs is very well known and respected.
We are also seeing significant growth in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and the UK, much of it expanding through meetups. In recent months, I am thrilled to see local Vexl initiatives flourishing in African countries as well.
Curva: What’s next for Vexl?
Petrasova: Over the course of the summer, we were able to successfully rewrite our backend, which was a major hurdle for future development. This gave us the opportunity to deliver a wide range of improvements to the social network that we had on our roadmap for a long time.
Another major focus is providing education on the importance of KYC-free Bitcoin. It is alarmingly common that users do not realize the true cost they pay for the convenience or convenience of giving up their personal data at financial institutions.