Company name: Vexl
Founders: Lea Petrášová, Marek Palatinus and Pavol Rusnak
Date of establishment: June 2022
Location of the head office: Prague, Czech Republic
Amount of Bitcoin in Treasury: Most of the treasury consists of bitcoin
Number of employees: 5 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees/volunteers
Website: https://vexl.it/
Public or private? Private
Lea Petrášová is a cypherpunk through and through with more than 10 years of experience in the world of software development.
This made her a perfect candidate to help create Vexlan open-source app that allows users to conduct private peer-to-peer bitcoin transactions with relative ease.
With Vexl, Petrášová and the team of Satoshi Labs (known for creating Trezor hardware wallets) created what Petrášová calls a “social network” that connects buyers and sellers of bitcoin through the contacts in their phones and the contacts of their contacts. Furthermore, communications between users are private and Vexl does not charge for the service it provides.
Petrášová and the team at Vexl are on a mission to enable people to use Bitcoin as it was intended: without KYC, privately and without third-party intermediaries involved in the process.
We spoke with Petrášová for more details about Vexl’s mission.
Frank Corva: Please tell us about Vexl’s mission.
Lea Petrašová: We believe that without the freedom to transact, we have no other rights. Bitcoin gives us the ultimate ticket to a financial system that is not inherently exploitative and oppressive.
However, to serve this purpose, it cannot be tied to a person’s identity. We offer our users the ability 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.
Corva: What did you do before Vexl?
Petrašová: I was a project manager for a small venture capital fund that also operated as a software house. In 2018, I launched a spin-off focused solely on web3 development, specifically in DeFi. Although the projects were academically interesting, after selling the company I realized that I wanted to dedicate my time and energy solely to Bitcoin.
Corva: How did the idea for Vexl come about and how did you get involved?
Petrašová: This idea was actually brewing Slush‘s (co-founder of SatoshiLabs, Trezor, Vexl) mind for a few years. As one of the industry’s OGs, he anticipated the regulations long before they came into effect.
When he found out I had recently completed my previous job, he reached out and pitched what would become Vexl, essentially offering me the opportunity to take on executive management of the project. I didn’t hesitate for a second.
Corva: Vexl seems to embrace much of the bitcoin ethos. It’s an app that enables peer-to-peer trading, it doesn’t require much KYC and it’s open-source. Why was it important to you to design it this way?
Petrašová: We’re 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, excessive fees, or significant security and safety risks.
We couldn’t design a product that we wouldn’t want to use ourselves. There was never any discussion 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 exploring and balancing the ‘trilemma’ of usability, security and privacy.
Corva: What was it like working with Pavol Rusnák, a legend in the bitcoin/crypto wallet space?
Petrašová: Humiliating. He’s the kind of thinker you can ask any question and he’ll respond with an original answer. The range of his knowledge and interests is very impressive. Yet he approaches people and projects with kindness, respect and, most importantly, a great sense of humor. He is truly inspiring.
Corva: You don’t plan to monetize Vexl. Why?
Petrašová: We strongly believe in the importance of our mission and strive to make it as accessible as possible.
Corva: How can Vexl survive if you don’t monetize it?
Petrašová: We are directly dependent on donations and subsidies. I have deep gratitude and enormous respect for everyone who helped us make Vexl a success. But if we were to fail for whatever reason, thanks to open source, I want to believe that someone else would pick up where we left off and move things forward.
Corva: Vexl is essentially a messaging app, something that connects buyers and sellers to transact among themselves, just like LocalBitcoins did. Why did you make something like this now?
Petrašová: Because we clearly saw the need. Think about it: Bitcoin is currently the sixth largest monetary asset and aims to become a global, universal store of value.
Governments can create registries of bitcoin holders through various third parties and financial institutions. These individuals can then be censored, prosecuted, taxed and have their property monitored, compromised or even banned.
Knowing the identities of Bitcoin users weakens Bitcoin’s ability to function as a store of value independent of state power. That was the first part of our motivation.
The second part of our motivation was much more practical: every time I gave someone an orange pill and didn’t want to send them to an exchange, I had no good alternative. My options were to sell my own bitcoin to them or spend a long time searching for someone else who could.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of platforms like LocalBitcoins. But as someone who has never purchased bitcoin with KYC or registered on an exchange, I know firsthand the limitations that come with these types of options.
Corva: How is Vexl different from other P2P apps such as Hodl Hodl, Bisq and Peach Bitcoin?
Petrašová: First and foremost, we’re a nonprofit, so we operate in a very different space. I do not view other solutions as competing, but rather as complementary.
The real innovation that Vexl introduces is our unique reputation model. On our marketplace you can only view anonymized offers from your contacts and their contacts. Until both parties decide to reveal their identities, you won’t know who the other is, but you can always see how many mutual contacts you share and who those people are, and ask for a reference if necessary.
This allows you to better assess the counterparty’s individual risk, which is virtually impossible when connecting two strangers from opposite sides of the world. Not to mention that using a fiat transfer for settlement can be downright dangerous.
If you really think about it, we’ve managed to bring real reputation to an app. And this social aspect – human interactions and experiences – cannot be replaced by any technology. That’s why on Vexl there are no deposits, no fees, and no need to already have bitcoin to participate.
Finally, I am extremely proud of our user experience. While creating Vexl, I kept asking myself, “Can my aunt use this without any problems?” That mentality has shaped our user interface, and I believe it is much more user-friendly than anything else out there.
Corva: Why isn’t Vexl pushing to decentralize its backend?
Petrašová: We are a non-profit organization with very streamlined operations. In a team as small as ours, we have to think twice when choosing our priority.
While decentralizing the backend is something we’ll focus on in the future, right now our backlog is full of more pressing app improvements.
The great thing is that Vexl is already politically decentralized. Anyone who doesn’t want to rely on my decisions can simply take the code and change it as they see fit.
Corva: Why does Vexl ask for phone numbers?
Petrašová: If you zoom out, you’ll see that Vexl is ultimately a social network. Anyone who has ever tried to build one from scratch will agree that it is an incredibly difficult task. That’s why we chose a different route: why not build on top of an existing network? But then came an even bigger question: which one?
We also wanted something that won’t disappear anytime soon and is widely adopted around the world.
The answer was clear to us: the use of telephone numbers and contact lists. From there we just had to find a way to use them while still keeping them private and secure.
Corva: Do you ever see mass adoption of Vexl or do you think the average person will find it more convenient to go to a regulated exchange like Kraken?
Petrašová: Sometimes I’m asked what my biggest fear is as a CEO of a Bitcoin company, and my answer is always “ignorance.” People often don’t care about financial freedom until it’s too late.
That said, nothing is better marketing for us than the current financial system becoming more and more unbearably unusable and trading becoming more permissible. From this perspective, it would be a wonderful world if tools like Vexl became obsolete.
But Vexl has been invented, and it cannot remain uninvented. Perhaps it will be used for peer-to-peer bitcoin transactions. Or it could be used in the gig economy or to pay for goods in bitcoin.
Since our introduction categories on the marketwe have seen circular economies flourish. I build Vexl for anyone who has the courage to claim their financial sovereignty – even if it only serves a small community of users.
Corva: Where do you see the most adoption of the app so far? Why do you think people in these regions are adopting this?
Petrašová: Most of our users come from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I think the success has a lot to do with the history of these countries and their economic isolation during the communist era. There is a long tradition in which people hedge against oppression with stronger currencies and participate in the gray economy. Furthermore, the support from SatoshiLabs certainly helped us a lot during the launch, especially in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where SatoshiLabs is well-known and respected.
We are also seeing significant growth in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, especially through meetups. In recent months I have been very happy to see that local Vexl initiatives are also flourishing in African countries.
Corva: What’s next for Vexl?
Petrašová: Over the summer we managed to successfully rewrite our backend, which had been a major hurdle for future development. This opened up the opportunity for us to make a wide range of improvements to the social network that we had long had on our roadmap.
Another important point of attention is providing information about the importance of non-KYC Bitcoin. It is disturbingly common for users to not realize the true cost they are paying for comfort or convenience when they provide their personal information to financial institutions.