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 Efrat's Twitter: https://twitter.com/efenigson Efrat's Telegram: https://t.me/efenigson Watch/listen on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/yourethevoice Support Efrat's work: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/efenigson⁠ Support Efrat with Bitcoin: https://geyser.fund/project/efenigson