Vexl: The Next Generation Bitcoin P2P Trading App Trending Global News

Company Name: wexl

Founder: Lee Petrasova, Marek Palatinus and Pavol Rusnak

inception date: June 2022

Location of Headquarters: Prague, Czech Republic

Amount of Bitcoin held in the treasury: The majority of the treasury is Bitcoin

Number of Employees: 5 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees/volunteers

Website: https://vexl.it/

Public or private? Personal

With over 10 years of experience in the world of software development, Lee Petrasova is a cyberpunk at heart.

This made him an ideal candidate to help create wexlAn open-source app that enables users to conduct private peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions in a relatively easy way.

With Wexel, Petrasova and team SatoshiLabs (famous for creating the Trezor hardware wallet) Petrasova called a “social network” that connects buyers and sellers of Bitcoin through contacts in 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.

Petrasova and the team at Wexel are on a mission to enable people to use Bitcoin the way it was intended to be used – without KYC, privately, and without third-party intermediaries involved in the process.

We spoke to Petrasova to find out more about Wexel’s mission.

Frank Corva: Please tell us about Wexel’s mission.

Lee Petrasova: We believe that without freedom of transaction, we have no other rights. Bitcoin gives us the ultimate entry ticket into a financial system that is not inherently exploitative and oppressive.

However, it cannot be linked to anyone’s identity to serve this purpose. We provide our users with the option to buy or sell Bitcoin peer-to-peer without KYC, which is not only private but also accessible, user-friendly and secure.

Korva: What were you doing before Wexel?

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 focused specifically on Web3 development in DeFi. Although the projects were interesting academically, after selling the company, I realized I wanted to devote my time and energy entirely to Bitcoin.

Korva: How did the idea for Wexel come about and how did you get involved?

Petrasova: This idea was really taking off mud(Co-founder of SatoshiLabs, Trezor, Vexl) has had this in mind for a few years. As one of the OGs of the industry, he anticipated the rules long before they came into effect.

When they learned I had recently completed my previous work, they reached out and talked about becoming a Wexel going forward, essentially offering me the opportunity to take over the executive management of the project. I didn’t hesitate even for a moment.

Korva: Vexl appears to adopt most of the Bitcoin ethos. It is an app that allows peer-to-peer trading, does not require much KYC and is open-source. Why was it important for you to design it this way?

Petrasova: We are not just Bitcoiners; We are also cyberpunks and activists.

When we came up with Wexl, we were solving our own problem: how to buy or sell Bitcoin without KYC, excessive fees, or significant safety and security risks.

We couldn’t design a product we wouldn’t be willing to use ourselves. There was never any 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 usability, security, and privacy.

Korva: What was it like working with Pavol Rusnak, a veteran of the Bitcoin/crypto wallet space?

Petrasova: Polite. He is a thinker to whom you can ask any question and he will respond with an original answer. The range of his knowledge and interests is impressive. Still, he approaches people and projects with kindness, respect, and most importantly, a great sense of humor. He is truly inspiring.

Korva: You are not planning to monetize with Vexl. Why?

Petrasova: We believe strongly in the importance of our mission and are committed to making it as accessible as possible.

Korva: How will Vexl continue to exist if you don’t monetize it?

Petrasova: We are dependent on direct donations and grants. I have deep gratitude and deep respect for everyone who has helped us make Wexel successful. But thanks to open source, if, for whatever reason, we fail, I want to trust that someone else will pick up where we left off and keep things moving forward.

Korva: Vexl is basically a messaging app, something that connects buyers and sellers to transact with each other like LocalBitcoins. Why did you make something like this now?

Petrasova: Because we clearly saw the need for it. Think about it – Bitcoin is currently the sixth largest monetary asset, aspiring to become a global, universal 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 ownership controlled, compromised, or even outlawed.

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 inspiration.

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 didn’t have any good alternatives. My options were to either sell them my bitcoin or go through a long search to find someone else.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of platforms like LocalBitcoins. But as someone who has never bought Bitcoin with KYC or registered on an exchange, I know firsthand the limitations that come with such options.

Korva: How is Vexl different from other P2P apps like Hodl Hodl, Bisq and Peach Bitcoin?

Petrasova: Well, first of all, we’re a nonprofit, so we operate in a completely different space. I don’t see the other solutions out there as competitors, but rather as complementary.

The real innovation offered by Vexl is our unique reputation model. On our marketplace, you can only see anonymous offers from your contacts and their contacts. You don’t know who the other person is unless both parties decide to reveal their identity, but you can always see how many mutual contacts you have and who those people are, and eventually ask them for a reference. Are.

This allows you to better assess the individual risk of the counterparty, which is almost impossible when you’re connecting two strangers from opposite sides of the world – not to mention, if you’re using fiat wire transfers. This can absolutely be a dangerous habitation.

If you really think about it, we’ve managed to bring real-world reputation into an app. And this social aspect – human interaction and experience – cannot be replaced by any technology. That’s why there is no escrow at Vexl, no fees, and no need to already hold Bitcoin to join.

Finally, I am particularly proud of our user experience. While building Wexel, I kept asking myself, “Can my aunt use this without any restrictions?” That mindset shaped our UI, and I believe it’s far more user-friendly than anything else.

Korva: Why doesn’t Vexl insist on decentralizing its backend?

Petrasova: We are a non-profit with very small operations. In a small team like ours, we have to think twice when choosing what to prioritize.

Although decentralizing the backend is something we’ll focus on in the future, right now our backlog is full of more urgent app improvements.

The good thing is that Vexl is already politically decentralized. Anyone who doesn’t want to trust my decisions can simply take the code and change it as they wish.

Korva: Why does Vexl ask for phone number?

Petrasova: 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. So, we chose a different path: why not build on top of an existing network? But then came an even bigger question: Which one?

We also wanted something that wouldn’t go away anytime soon and was widely adopted around the world.

The answer was obvious to us: using phone numbers and contact lists. From there we just had to find a way to use them while keeping them private and secure.

Korva: Do you ever see mass adoption of Wexel or do you think the average person would find it more convenient to go to a regulated exchange like Kraken?

Petrasova: Sometimes I’m asked what my biggest fear is as CEO of a Bitcoin company, and my answer is always “ignorance.” People often don’t care about financial independence until it’s too late.

That being said, there is nothing better marketed to us than seeing the current financial system becoming more and more unbearably useless and commerce being taken for granted more and more. From this perspective, it would be a beautiful world if tools like Vexl became obsolete.

But Vexl has been invented, and it cannot be invented. Perhaps it will be used for peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions. Or it can be used in the gig economy or to pay for goods in Bitcoin.

since we were introduced categories in the marketWe have seen circular economies flourish. I’m building Wexel for everyone who has the courage to claim their financial sovereignty – even if it only serves a small community of users.

Korva: Where are you seeing 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 the communist period. There is a long tradition of defending against oppression with strong currencies and of people participating in the gray economy. Additionally, the support from SatoshiLabs definitely helped us a lot during the launch, especially in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where SatoshiLabs is well-known and respected.

We’re also seeing significant growth in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK, mostly through Meetup. In recent months, I’ve been really thrilled to see local Wexel initiatives flourishing in African countries as well.

Korva: What’s next for Vexel?

Petrasova: Over the summer, we managed to successfully rewrite our backend, which was a major hurdle for future development. This opened up an opportunity for us to bring a variety of improvements to the social network that had been on our roadmap for a long time.

Another key focus is to provide education about the importance of non-KYC Bitcoin. It is disturbingly common that users do not realize the real price they pay for comfort or convenience when giving out their personal data to financial institutions.