FFS098 - Martin Kuchar

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Intro

Martin: we really work hard to curate every single speaker, every single partner. we really love people and the energy and the positive vibe of having people around

so we really think how people will Move how they will flow in the venue. is beer close enough? If not, let's put another beer stent there. You know? Praxe is in the middle of Europe. It's like easy to access from anywhere. It's really wonderful.

. The beer is good. Summer is really nice. And that great Bitcoin history of Prague and our non giving shit policy in Czech Republic is unprecedented and it's, it's hard to describe it, but people really need, need to live it, I would say.

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Welcoming Martin Kuchar

Luke: Martin, welcome to the Freedom Footprint show. Thanks for joining us.

Martin: Thank you for having me on your show, guys. It's an honor.

Knut: Uh, it's an honor for us too, Martin. Uh, yeah, we last saw each other on Madeira, and you are, uh, one of, of the two brothers that are sort of the, the colonel of, uh, the Bitcoin Prague, BTC Prague conference. So, uh, but But that's not the TLDR, that's the, that's the TL, uh, that's the very short, what's, what's it, what's that description called, Luke? Uh,

Luke: Uh, I [00:03:00] don't know what you're getting at. Maybe, maybe get to the first

Knut: no, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's get to the first question.

Introduction to Martin

Knut: So Martin, tell us a bit about yourself and, um, Uh, your, your backstory.

Martin: Yeah, okay. Um, I would say that the story of my, of me being a Bitcoiner is more like straightforward and quite obvious and it's, It doesn't like stand out from the majority and the clouds, but, uh, crowds, but still, you know, I was introduced into Bitcoin from few friends of mine. And it was just a coincidence that like for, for few random people, not like really random people, but randomly told me about something like Bitcoin in one week.

And, uh, as I was always like IT guy, I was interested in hardware, you know, and I tested a GPUs and CPUs and motherboard and stuff like this. So, um, I've. I got interested even from the technology perspective, so I said, okay, okay, I shall maybe do some research and after like a few days, my wife approached me in the evening, uh, [00:04:00] with some Bitcoin too, so I said, okay, so, uh, both of us heard about something like Bitcoin, it's definitely something worth exploring, so we said that, okay, let's buy some, that's the only way how to really get the skin so we bought like Transcribed by https: otter.

ai Some, some small portion of it at the beginning of 2017, still before that, uh, that crazy, uh, spike, which we, which we saw at the end of the year and, and yeah, it got my attention like immediately. And of course, uh, there were like, that, that was the age of ICOs and a lot of shit coins, which we haven't heard since then anymore, but I thought that there's even something better than Bitcoin.

So I did a lot of shit coins. I've, uh, Lost a lot of money. Then I mined a lot of shitcoins and I mined a bitcoin too. It was actually great because I hit it. And all my house from the waste heat. And I've, oh, and I've learned so much, so it was actually great. And then I [00:05:00] earned some money on shit coining, but that was like nothing serious.

I was basically just lucky one. And I, I fought for myself, Hey, why the hell I'm risking so much while the gains aren't like bigger while hodling it. Yeah. So I've realized that there's actually no like proper reason for it. So I've realized that the only thing I really need is Bitcoin and. Try to stack more.

And it was like in the year of 2019 when I had discussions with my brother Matthias. He used to live in Bali back then. He had his business there. And he, just from another coincidence, was introduced into Bitcoin in the same age, uh, in the same year. So we realized that, okay, that that's really funny that we, two brothers living on opposite sides of the world, reached into the Bitcoin in year 2017.

And we, both of us were thinking for ourselves, like, what can we do more in Bitcoin? Because We are not developers, not the tech guys, so before, like, what we really like and what we did for, uh, all our lives and it was [00:06:00] basically that we organized events, you know, like, not really like early events, but more like parties for our friends.

So, when we used to live together, there was always someone. Hanging with us at our place, having a good time, you know, or we were doing some parties in the clubs, et cetera, et cetera. So we thought for ourselves, like, okay, how about we do a Bitcoin conference or like bigger Bitcoin meetup? Because there was none of it in Czech Republic in 2019.

And We did some research. We realized that the observation was actually valid. So we've created a brand, which is called Chaincamp. It's our check only, Bitcoin only conference, and we kicked it out. But then COVID appeared, you know, so we had to postpone it. And we were lucky that we picked one week during the autumn season of 2020.

When the restrictions were down for some reason, you know, I still don't understand why, but we were lucky that we fit into the timeframe. So basically, [00:07:00] as we were the only ones who organized anything back then, we got like huge traction, attracted 450 visitors on the first year of it. Doubled the number year after, still in the COVID, actually.

Doubled it again in 2022, which reached, uh, which reached us to 2, 000 visitors, still on check only conference, basically. So considering, like, country of 10 million inhabitants, it's, uh, not, not really small. And somebody actually told us that, Hey guys, are you aware of the fact that you are the biggest, like, non English speaking conference in the world?

And we said, oh, like, really? Okay. That's interesting. So, and we saw even some like demand from foreign speakers and from foreign partners, uh, who are interested into, to contribute into our conference somehow. So we thought, you know, like how to do it, because that would require us to move from, uh, Ostrava to Prague to switch from Czech language to the English, which would probably ruin the brand of our local [00:08:00] conference. So we decided to create another one, internationally focused, which BTC Prague is. And, uh, we saw the opportunity of like creating like real strictly Bitcoin only mass adoption focused conference here in the mid Europe, because it's like easy to access and Prague has a great history of Bitcoin, probably gonna get there.

But the conditions weren't really good because, you know, we were in the bear market, the sentiment was down. It looked like the Bitcoin gonna die again. Luckily it didn't. And, um, yeah, we managed it. So BTC Prague happened last year. I'm a bit biased to say that it was a great success, but it turned out to be a good idea, you know, to, to organize events for us, basically.

Czech Language Conference

Knut: No, uh, BHC Prague was amazing last year. Uh, it is one of my absolute favorite conferences, uh, and I, I think, uh, by the way, the first question here before I forget, uh, it's, do you still do the Czech language, uh, [00:09:00] conference or is that off the table now?

Martin: Yeah. Yeah. We still do it. It's going to happen again in September here in city of Ostrava. And we are in close touch with, uh, University here, as they are interested in Bitcoin, but you know, the university and academics, it's more like politics, so it takes a long time before they can really adapt and accept it into our, into their learning system.

So they are happy that we get the traction and the publicity into the campus around the Bitcoin, and they do not really have to do a lot about it yet.

Knut: And are you expecting the same number of attendees, like, uh, uh, is, is it still a big conference, the Czech language one, or is B2C Prague sort of eating the,

Martin: Yeah, we are, we are self cannibalizing ourselves, to be honest, so we've decided that we're going to change the focus of our chain camp for this year, so we're going to scale down a bit, targeting like 900 visitors, and we're going to skip the beginners topics, so it's not going to be like a newbie focus, and we're going to [00:10:00] focus on the advanced bitcoiners, so as we see that community grew a lot here, Um, we want to provide them like, uh, advanced topics, advanced content, uh, and actually they are asking us if we can do a bit more on this side.

So hope you're gonna, hope it's gonna fit again.

Knut: that's very cool, since, especially since Prague has turned out to be the Bitcoin capital of Europe, sort of, like, uh, it's the most Bitcoinized big city, I think, uh, in, on the

Martin: Yeah, it definitely is. Yeah.

Knut: Yeah. Uh, so, so like I love BTC Prague and I think we should be proud as Europeans now because we have three of the most high signal to noise ratio conferences in the world.

And those are Prague, uh, Madeira, where I'm a bit biased, of course, and of course also, uh, Baltic Honey Badger Riga.

Martin: Yeah,

Knut: So, and, and I, I love that. Uh, with the, the collaboration between the three, because there's no, uh, there's no rivalry. It's, [00:11:00] it's just friendly competition and collaboration. Uh, because we're, we realize we're all in the same, in the same boat here.

So it's, uh, it's beautiful to see. And, uh, yeah, looking forward to those are, those three are the ones that we, we will show up at every one of those. I think going into the future, Luke, isn't, isn't that right?

Luke: Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, again, exactly. Europe, we're, we're just, we're so in such good shape. I mean, like, I come from North America and they, and they have Good conferences, even one now is getting some traction from my hometown in Calgary, but I love being based in Europe now. I think we've got the best conferences.

Yeah, with Prague coming up, I can't wait. And Martin, I think, uh, The main reason we wanted to bring you on, not only just to tell us more about what's going on this year at BTC Prague, but, uh, but

Czech History of Freedom

Luke: you have some, some, uh, history of, of Czech Republic and, uh, [00:12:00] and before it was the Czech Republic and, uh, uh, how that relates to how, how Czechia is so, so, uh, good for freedom now, for freedom minded people.

So, so. Just go ahead, please tell us the story, we're fascinated waiting to hear, yeah.

Martin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And, uh, actually. I'm quite surprised that, you know, even Czechs aren't aware of the fact that we can really be proud of something else than the beer and the hockey is. And hockey is actually not relevant anymore, even here in Czech Republic. And it's, of course, it's Bitcoin, but, you know, to put everything in the right context, uh, It kind of requires me to give you like a short lesson of our national history, and I don't want to dive really deep, so I'm gonna, I will try to make it like short, but, uh, the most important thing is that Czechs and Czechoslovaks, you know, we were always like freedom fighters, you know, but as we live in the middle of the Europe and [00:13:00] we are a small nation, we weren't Free and we still aren't like really free, you know, we need to decide we want to be part of the West or the East as we are too small to be really free, but we fought for it a lot.

And like the first moment, which is kind of a popular happened happened already in 15th century. And it was, it's called like defenestration of Prague when really like plebeians went and threw corrupt officials out of the town hall in Prague to the streets. Some of them died, actually. And this was like very first mark and early struggle for our religious and civil liberty here in Czechoslovakia.

And I don't know if it became like some kind of our national hobby, but it happened again 200 years after the second deforestation of Prague in the 17th century, when people again grabbed officials, those were Habsburg monarchs, and threw them out of the Prague castle. It wasn't actually a good [00:14:00] idea at all because it turned, uh, and escalated into the war here in Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia.

Uh, but again, like in 19th century, 200 years after that moment, we worked, uh, for our Czech language and Czech language identity, which ended in a revolution in 1848 when Prague was finally, uh, Independent from the German monarchy and not later after it in like, it was year of 1918. We finally was established as a Czechoslovakia as a free country when Austro Hungarian Empire collapsed.

After World War I, but not, we weren't really free for a long time because, you know, then World War II happened. So we were fully occupied by Nazis. We lost a significant part of our land and had to strive again. And as it look again, like positive after World War ii. And I dunno if like history likes to repeat or rhyme itself, uh, in the year of, [00:15:00] uh, four, uh, 1948.

We officially became, by political patch, part of a Sunnian communist party. And, it wasn't easy, mostly because of the fact that, like, 20 years after, in 68, Soviet Unions and their troops invaded our country even with armed forces and pushed us to follow their communist rules, like, in a very strict and direct way, like, diplomatically said, I would say, you know.

And, uh, there were like even escalations on this side. So in year 77, manifesto called Charta 77 was signed by Václav Havel. And it was like first official and public demanding, uh, to the government that we want to recognize at least some basic human rights here in Czech Republic. And that was basically the first like official peaceful symbol of our Velvet Revolution, which happened in year 77.

89, basically a few weeks after the Berlin Wall went down and, uh, [00:16:00] I believe that, you know, Bitcoin, of course, there's some gap between that moment and when Bitcoin was invented or born. Um, it was just a natural escalation, you know, it's another tool which Czechs can use to fight for freedom and to be free, even here in like middle Europe.

being so small country. So it's a kind of a natural escalation as, as I said, I think. Yeah.

Knut: Yeah, so how old are you, Martin?

Martin: I was born in 84.

Knut: In 84. So, so you lived through this revolution, even though you were small, but you, you did, uh, uh, yeah, this, this is amazing. I mean, the, the, the things I know about Prague's history, I, I mostly got from Rahim, uh, Rahim's, uh, history lesson last year at the conference, which was excellent.

So that Prague, uh, Prague is rich because of the silver mines around and that they had the small city states that grew bigger and also that, uh, became the, the center of [00:17:00] many, empires in many eras where, where the, the silver and gold flowed into, into Prague. And it's, it is a beautiful city. It's like the, the, it, there's so much history.

I mean, me and Luke went to the absinthe bar last time we were there, and we just stumbled upon it. We didn't have the intention of ending up there, but it looked so cool, the place. So we ended up in a cellar in a basement that was 500 years old and smelled like it, by the way. Yeah, but this Velvet Revolution, I'm interested in that and Vasslav Havel, because I only know I only have surface level knowledge about this, but To my knowledge, it was more violent than, than East Germany and, and how that, uh, the, the Berlin Wall and all that was kind of, kind of un violent, uh, that whole transition, if you will, and this was a bit more Uh, defenestration y, again, uh, [00:18:00] and also that Václav Havel and, uh, Charter 77 and all this, that there was some sort of underground movement for, for quite some time, right, where, where there was, like, a parallel society, and that's where Parallelini Police has gotten its name from.

Have I got that right? Can you, can you go

Martin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, like, honestly, I'm not really aware of like, Every detail, and it's quite interesting that, uh, we haven't been teached about this in history, history lessons in, uh, in our private, at my primary school, and it's still not really present. You know, it's quite, quite absurd that I know that, uh, Greece, Philosoph, or was it Roman, Diogenes actually lived in a barrel.

You know, but I know nothing about, like, our Czech and communism history at all, which is, which is quite absurd, because, uh, I don't know if our teachers were still, like, feeling it too present or too painful to talk about it, because it actually was really painful and, and yes, that movement of Charter 77 [00:19:00] and Vaclav Havel, he was a dissident, so he was forbid to speak publicly, but, uh, yeah.

The artists, uh, students, and some free and open minded people work like behind the curtain, and they build like parallel society, which has signed the Charta 77. They were prosecuted for it. Most of, some of them really died for it. Because they weren't, uh, open to tell who stands behind it. And, uh, it was actually very, the intention was very peaceful on the first sight.

But of course, you know, the intention was obvious just to get rid of the communism system at all. And it took, like, basically 20 years, you know. I should maybe study more before going into the real details. Maybe we can get discovered on, on another call, but, uh, it's quite interesting that all I know about the communism is, you know, from my parents, parents and from my grandfathers, because, you know, one [00:20:00] of my grandfather, he was a dissident, so he wasn't really allowed to do work.

He wants my mother and her brother. They weren't allowed to go to the university of their choose. So it was like really not, not, uh, not good at all, but on other hand, my second grandfather, he was a Dean at the university. So of course he had to be part, part of the party to be able to work on such a prominent position.

But that was kind of a price to be paid so he can focus on his work and, uh, and do the science as he worked on the nuclear reactors and, uh, Science, uh, science program and invented a few alloys of aluminum and et cetera, et cetera.

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Vexl and Tuzex and More History

Martin: and maybe I, maybe I can even tell, like, that if you have, have you heard of, like, uh, Wexel and Tuzex and our second currency?

That's actually even quite, like, interesting, yeah. And that's another thing, uh, which. Explains why we are so into Bitcoin here in the Czech Republic, basically.

Knut: Vexel, is that where the now Bitcoin company Vexel got its name from?

Martin: Yes,

Knut: Yes. Okay. Tell us a bit about [00:22:00] that.

Martin: Yeah. Okay. So, um, I'm going to give that example on my grandfather again. So as he was a dean, so he traveled a lot across the whole Europe and the world, basically. But to be able to travel back in the communism, it required everyone to get like official stamp. So he's allowed to travel, to leave the country, and, uh, on top of that stamp, usually that person got some, uh, foreign currency so he can, uh, pay for the accommodation, buy a dinner, or do whatever he wants abroad.

But as soon as he gets back, he had to tell what he did there, and give all that foreign currency, the unspent currency, back to the officials. And they received like nominal amount back, not in Czech korunas, but in second currency, which was called bonds. It was our like second currency unofficially available on the market, only available in exchange for the foreign currency.

And, uh, it's not actually coincidence that we [00:23:00] weren't allowed to keep any foreign currency because then it would be easy to, uh, cross the border and run away, right? west, mostly. But as that second currency wasn't officially accepted in any stores, Which wasn't really a problem because they were either completely empty, uh, so the only place to go and spend them were Tuzeks, officialist, official stores run by, uh, government where Western goods was available, like electronics, uh, jeans, even like luxury items, not elevator, not available in normal stores for normal people, which is quite absurd that the communist party was saying, Hey, We want everyone to be equal, we will take care of your wealth.

Everybody will get everything, but if you are privileged enough, you can get, you can get like capitalist Western good in special stores we take care of, right? So what happened? Uh, and that's where the Wexel application, peer to [00:24:00] peer marketplace, uh, Bitcoin trading application got its name. It's Wexel. It actually originates from the people who took care of the dark market back in the day.

In those days, you know, so there were like, uh, or how to say it? Yeah. Because yeah, there, there, uh, wasn't an official price for that second currency called bonds, which was the only way how to buy Western goods. Dark market grown under it. Yeah. So around every two secs, there were like people standing on the streets.

They were called vexlax, like traders. And they had a price for like foreign currencies, for korunas, for bonds, and vice versa. So if you had dollars, uh, German marks, Austrian shillings, Italian liras, or name it, you were able to sell it or buy it from those wexlacks on the streets. They were actually experts in selling and buying foreign currencies.

[00:25:00] And, uh, it's actually quite, quite, uh, funny or maybe absurd too, that when, uh, Velvet Revolution happened in, uh, 89, our official Czechoslovakia National Bank was established, but they knew nothing about the exchange rate, about the foreign currencies, because they weren't set before. So, the officials from the National Bank went to the streets.

Approach those VEX slugs and ask them how much shall they charge for a dollar, for a markup, for shilling and for lira. And thanks to those answers, they were able to set our like first official national exchange rate when people were willing to exchange their own korunas there. So like really market told our national bank what the price is of, of the money back then.

Yeah. that's just another example why Bitcoin is so strong here, right? And it's so deeply in our history, in roots, when government was [00:26:00] trying to fuck with us, that it's so easy to explain to anybody what freedom of the money means, yeah?

Yeah.

Knut: like the, the privileged were still able to get the, the, the, the good stuff from these special stores, that reminds me so much of Havana, Cuba, where, uh, and I visited Havana, um, when on the tall ship like years back, uh, but before I was there like four or five times before Fidel died, and, uh, uh, they, I remember, um, a place in Havana called La Coppola, which is where they, uh, and it's a fame, it's a famous place because of, it's one of the first things the communist government did, they made ice cream free to the public, so La Coppola is an ice cream place in the middle of, uh, an ice park in Havana, and, uh, uh, so they had this, uh, Oh, now we have a communist utopia.

Ice cream is free. And if you go there now, it's, it's a perfect [00:27:00] example of what communism does to a country because there's the ice cream is almost free. I mean, it's just a couple of cents. Uh, so there are 200 Cubans in a line waiting to get their almost free ice cream. But if you're a tourist and you pay like four bucks for the ice cream instead of four cents, you can bypass the line. So there's almost no line at all. Uh, so if you're rich enough, you don't have to be with the poor people. So like, and that's how all communist systems end up. There's, there's a, a, a small wealthy elite. And, uh, the more efficient the communist system is the, the, the less wealthy, even the elite becomes.

Because, yeah, there's a story about Gorbachev coming to the U. S. and seeing a supermarket full of more food than he ever saw anywhere in the Soviet Union, even though he was the president. So, yeah, sooner [00:28:00] or later you're going to run out of other people's money. That's what happens.

Younger Generations and Communism

Martin: And yeah, it's quite, quite interesting to, to see that people are, and mostly younger generation are calling for communism and socialism, even nowadays, you know, I don't understand it. Why can anyone still think that we can all be like, oh, yeah. Like equal from this perspective, uh, no, from the perspective that government will take care of the, of the fair equality, you know, that it doesn't work like this, right?

Knut: No, and it's a very naive position, and then again, there are immense inequalities in the world, and there are people who are billionaires and people who barely have anything to eat, but the real thing that people don't see at all is that billionaires is very much a product of Of fiat currency, like gaming, the system is rigged to make the wealthier even wealthier, even faster, and the poorer even poorer, it's very [00:29:00] expensive to be poor in a fiat monetary system.

Martin: Yeah. And life becomes super cheap when you reach some kind of level of, of being rich, right?

Knut: Absolutely. I mean, yeah, lower interest rates and everything. And if you, if you don't have a big mortgage to pay off all day, then of course your life is cheaper. It's, it's as simple as that. The more assets you have, the more you can leverage them.

Martin: Yeah, like Michael Saylor got a loan with interest rate 0. 68 percent a year. Wonderful, yeah.

Knut: Yeah. And even if he lost all his bitcoins in a tragic boating accident. It wouldn't be hard for Michael Saylor to, to make ends meet anyway, or, or anyone in that position. Uh, I mean, being poor is expensive is the gist of this.

The Bitcoin Movement in Czech Republic

Knut: uh, anyway, so, so like, if we go into more recent history, um, how, how did the Bitcoin movement, [00:30:00] uh, start in Prague?

And like, what, what are the big, like, landmarks there and historical events, uh, talking

Martin: Yeah, I'm quite proud of it. And we use this in our mission and our line when we talk about BTC Prague a lot. And it again goes, With our history, and as I told about the communism and that two sex era, when nothing was in store, people, uh, people were used to create stuff by themselves, you know, that, uh, kind of dark age of our history cultivated kind of a craftsmanship in our country, you know, and people were used to build like everything, like furniture, sport equipment, electronics, like, Uh, anything because it was simply needed, you know, and this culture of craftsmanship actually brought people together, uh, in the year 2009 in like very, very, it's, I'm, I'm not sure if it still exists in [00:31:00] Prague.

It was called Bermlap. It was like a hacker space in Prague. A few people met and talked us about something new, which is happening in online space, and it's something like Bitcoin, you know? And as they spend time together talking about Bitcoin, that they realize that they have, that they have some problems with Bitcoin and they were trying to, uh, using their craftmanship skills, create a solution for those, those struggles and problems they had with Bitcoin by themselves back then, you know, so.

In early 2010, uh, Slush from Satoshi Labs, uh, actually created very first Bitcoin mining pool, uh, in, from Prague, you know, uh, it, it still exists. It's, uh, run by Brains. They renamed it to Brains Pool now, and, and it mined already more than 1 million Bitcoin actually. two years after, again, Slash and Stick, second co founder of Trezor Wallet, they were wondering how they can actually protect their Bitcoin in a better way than Electrum [00:32:00] Wallet is in their computers.

And they thought that, like, Hardware Wallet might be something interesting for that purpose. They came up with the Treasure Wallet, you know, again in 2012. And, uh, one year after they realized that we probably need some better way how to store our private keys, so they came up with idea of seed phrase, BIP39.

Again, Slash and Stick in Prague. And, uh, in the same year, General Bytes, uh, was born. The biggest, uh, Bitcoin ATM producer and manufacturer in the world. And of course, like last but not least, uh, Brains, mining company, uh, which runs, uh, Brainspool. Slashpool back then, uh, and creates, uh, auto tuning, uh, ASIC firmware, which gets as much as terahash as possible from every single, uh, mining, uh, mining machine.

And of course, like, and you mentioned it already, like, that's a cypherpunk, uh, hackerspace called Paralini Police, which, uh, Operates for, yeah, more than 10 [00:33:00] years in, in Prague and they haven't been accepting fiat any time, you know, they were only powered by crypto and Bitcoin from the very beginning. So they were like, uh, innovators of that, uh, fuck the state movement, I would say.

Yeah. And, uh, I believe that this is like unprecedented. We still need to understand that we are talking about a country of 10 million inhabitants. So, uh, yeah, I'm quite, quite proud of when I'm saying it. Every time again, because Prague is like real capital of Bitcoin, I would say, yeah, at least, at least from this perspective, yeah.

Knut: No, it's super cool, and uh, yeah. And it's a fantastic city. Uh, Luke, what do you think about all this?

Luke: Yeah, it's great. And I mean, I think I'm also interested in another angle here, not just of Prague. Lots of great things from Prague, but you're also, Ostrava is like the other side of the country, right? So you're also involved [00:34:00] throughout Czech Republic. Is that right?

Martin: Yeah. And, um, it actually, COVID actually slowed down this movement a lot, to be honest, like, uh, mostly the small meetups, you know, but now, you know, we have like, uh, some kind of Bitcoin meetup or gathering or like small event happening. Almost every day, somewhere in Czech Republic. So like, there's like our local I know it's fancy or 21 world community called yet not what set in already 30 cities.

And they are organizing the regular meetups on a two week or monthly basis. Yeah. Like for example, here in Ostrava, we actually kicked it off with Mattias two years ago and it now works like automatically, you know, like plebs took over, they just kick it out every first Wednesday in a month. At the same place in, in the same pop.

And you know, sometimes there's, uh, some speaker to talk about something. Sometimes it's just a beer [00:35:00] session. Sometimes there's like a Bitcoin quiz and uh, like more than 30 or even 50 people gets together, like on monthly basis. So, uh, it, it's great. And that's like even more important though than those like big conferences, you know?

Uh, as mostly now when we are reaching like another bull run, or we probably already are in one, uh, it's interesting, it's like important to have such a places where bitcoiner can take his friend and say, Hey, just join me for a beer. I'm going to introduce you to Bitcoiner. to few friends of mine and we do not need to push you into anything.

Just ask a question or you can just have a beer, you know, it's a great proof of concept, I think.

[00:36:00]

Luke: Fantastic. And yeah, [00:37:00] yeah, I think, I think it's great to see this, uh, this growing and, uh,

BTC Prague

Luke: now maybe the, the natural, um, next step is, can you tell us more about BTC Prague and, uh, um, yeah, like the, the conference was fantastic last year. What's going on this year? Uh, anything you want to tell us about BTC Prague?

Martin: Yeah, I gonna, thank you. I'm gonna continue with the 21 world mission, you know, and, um, we are empowering that bottom up approach in Bitcoin, basically as much as we can, you know, we like plebs, so we are, you know, Pleb focus first. I would say, of course, there's like industry day, so businessmen and entrepreneurs can get together and create and do something like, uh, interesting and nice, but I, I really believe that the plebeians are the most important ones in the space.

So we've decided to create like a 21 world community booth, which will [00:38:00] be in the expo section. Besides another 99 booths there, uh, having like small chill area around, having a coffee spot, having like a lightning powered beer tap machine. Because, you know, we still need to, uh, keep in mind that we are talking about the Czech Republic and Pilsner Urquell and our beer, you know, uh, just don't forget this guy, guys here.

Knut: No, no, no, it's impossible to forget. Like, I didn't think beer could get any better until I visited Prague for the first time, and it's like, holy shit, there's another level of this thing. It's truly next level.

Martin: Thank you. I appreciate. Yeah. So there's going to be like huge 21 world community booth. Uh, we have like, uh, Some kind of a runner or a member from every single European 21 world community, basically a representative who takes care over of sharing the information in their own communities, inviting people so they can gather there.

So it's going to be like pretty packed meeting point, I [00:39:00] think. And yeah, and, uh, but talking about BTC Prague in general, I believe that, uh, we have decided to divide the venue into two sections last year in like a good way. So it worked pretty well. People were, uh, it was easy to orient there. And it worked. So we're basically going to copy paste the layout from last year.

of course there were like troubles or maybe you can say even fuck ups here. Like for example, audio quality on the main stage wasn't really good. Uh, there was like a huge echo because it's like a square concrete, uh, hall. It's more like a logistic Amazon, uh, Amazon logistic center than, than a place for a conference.

So this is going to be solved and other smaller or bigger things, which we were mostly able to keep behind the curtain. Yeah. And, um, we're going to make it a bit bigger. So we are targeting eight and a half thousand visitors. So this is like the maximum. [00:40:00] That the venue can hold still being sure that everybody will feel comfortable there because we do not want to go over this.

And the goal is to have like 100 Bitcoin focused companies, uh, Bitcoin only focused companies in the expo section. And, uh, I'm quite, I'm quite proud about this because it's like a great proof of concept again. So when some newbie comes to, to the BTC Prague and sees the size of it and the amounts of the, of the companies working on something like software, hardware, whatever, name it, it's usually hard to say that, okay, the Bitcoin is that, you know, they will, Mostly and probably understand it.

Okay. Like that's like a complete industry. It's like a whole ecosystem. And what we believe is that we will be able to force at least some of newbie visitors, or maybe even advanced ones, actually, to start to contribute into Bitcoin somehow. You know, quit [00:41:00] Fiat job. Find a Bitcoin one or maybe stay in Fiat job and have a Bitcoin part time job or do Bitcoin art or do whatever, you know, because it's not only about the developers as people usually think, but it's, as I said, it's like complete industry.

So it needs and requires like project managers, account managers, marketers, video, AV, whatever, actually, like, like any other industry accountants. So. We want to challenge people to come, to see it, and to think for themselves that, hey, this might be interesting. It's like the fastest growing industry these days, so I want to be part of it.

What can I do? Yeah, you can come meet the companies at the booths, ask them if they have some free position, which they have now in the bull run. It's a great fit from my perspective. Yeah.

Knut: Yeah, it's super cool. I heard another, uh, conference organizer, let's just call it that, who, uh [00:42:00] Accused BTC Prague of just copy pasting their templates. Did you hear about this?

Martin: Yeah. I've, I've heard, of course, of

Knut: what's, what's your thoughts on that?

Martin: what can I say, man? Uh, I don't really consider it being valid. So, you know, you can then say that there's like an IT conference. So is Bitcoin conference copying? The concept of IT conferences, uh, whatever, man, I'm more like try to stay focused on our work and the way we do it and the way we like it than, uh, considering like an ending up with in such a like, it's not fighting, you know, to be like 100 percent honest, but it wasn't really fair.

I understand his point, but, uh, come on, you know, Bitcoin is so huge. We are talking about America, like whole continent. We are talking about Europe, whole continent. There's definitely a space for, uh, many events. And I believe that we share [00:43:00] the mission of like getting the world orange pill. So unless we are doing, as long as we are doing it like in a proper and right way, Being like, because, you know, I, for example, I feel responsible for every single visitor of, of ours, you know, so I try to consider if, uh, that partner is legit or if it's not, we even got sued by Italian scammers, you know, because we forbid them to be part of the BTC Prague.

Uh, so I said, then, hey, you know that you are, you basically proved yourself to be scammers because you're trying to sue us that we are not allowing you to come, right? And, uh, but this is a, like a different story. So I believe that as long as we stay on this, like first side of it, trying to be responsible for our visitors, It's okay, right?

The market will tell. It's not us. I do not feel like being in a position to tell what's right or what's not, right?

Knut: No, no. And, uh, uh, for those that don't know, it's actually easier to copy a [00:44:00] JPEG than it is to copy a conference. Uh, some people don't know this, but it's, it's actually true. You can, you can just right click on it and copy it and you can make it into your own by putting it in an editing program and then you can copy that.

It's fantastic actually. What you, the computers are great.

Martin: Yeah. Yeah. Computers are great. We won't be here without the computers, right?

Luke: Now, we've got this lovely technology that lets us connect virtually. I mean, I think the thing is, it's great that so many conferences are cropping up and again, just back to how great we have it here in Europe, it's always like seeing your friends every three to four months, something like that, everyone who goes into the same conferences and to me, it doesn't get it.

Because I think that the main point here, right, is to connect, right? And the, the, the talks are fantastic. It's, it's a great way [00:45:00] for, for, for people to. Uh, get a lot of knowledge all in one place, uh, and, and, uh, the expo was, was my, my favorite part last year for sure. Uh, I spent most of my time hanging out in the, the expo area, just, yeah, meeting people and, uh, and, and seeing all the great things going on there.

And so it's just all the, all the connections. I mean, I, I think this is, this is why to, to do these, uh, to do these conferences is to set up these hubs. And so, I mean, you make the contrast between, um, so to say, uh, uh, a meetup, um, the local community and every sort of a regular basis and all this. Um, and yeah, that's fantastic as well, grow the local community, but it's also fantastic to pull in the international community.

Effects of BTC Prague on the Community

Luke: And so have you seen, have you seen, um, uh, sort of an effect, uh, after, after BTC Prague on, on, on sort of the Prague is becoming a. A hub for [00:46:00] international bitcoiners, uh, that sort of thing.

Martin: I would say yes, that it's much easier now. And I give an example, for example, on the Anut Svansic community in Germany, you know. As like Germans are Germans, you know, they are like a privacy object in the good way. I love it. And that's just one example of like being, uh, or having like different approach on Bitcoin.

Like for example, checks, they are non KYC. Freaks, Germans, they don't care about KYC, but they do not want to get their phone numbers spoiled first, right? And just do not, do not picture them without, without the consensus, uh, and, and it, and other countries follows, uh, and I, I believe that, and that's our mission actually to build the Bitcoin bridges across the Europe, because yeah.

Um, before I get to the answer, like for, for us, it's so easy, you know, or actually much easier because if you want to run a Bitcoin startup in the US. You do it [00:47:00] in English and you target like 300 millions at one shot. Doing this in Europe, you know, you need to follow the regulatory of every single country.

Then there are language barriers, uh, cultural differences. Like I gave you a few examples, uh, just from the Bitcoin perspective. And we want to bridge those people together to let them understand that of course we have differences. We probably won't, uh, won't maybe argue on like one point, but we're going to agree on Ten others, nine others, you know, and I want them to, to understand that we are basically the same and that we can cooperate and like make Europe great again.

Uh, as, as it is quite needy seeing that nonsense, which European Union is approaching us with. but yeah, I can see it, you know, it's, uh, it's easier when I, when we get in touch with BlockTrainer or LunaticCoin, they are telling us, hey, please, we definitely want to be part of BTC Prague because it was great.

For us to come [00:48:00] to learn, to share our knowledge and to understand what are the differences so we can maybe adapt somehow to enlarge our, our reach and audience and orange pill may be faster and more effective because, you know, we do not need to reinvent the wheel in every single European country. And, uh, mostly now, you know, when we are heading into the AI era, And probably in like one year, or maybe two years, I don't know, I would be able to do such a recording like we are having here now, and nobody would be able to recognize if it's true or not.

But meeting and seeing people face to face on the conference, you know, there's like a huge trust. It's another level of, which people are usually complaining, hey, why, why shall I spend money on the conference? Because there's like overhead expenses of getting there, getting yourself accommodated and everything.

But come on, you can be sure that you are meeting the people, when you are meeting the people face to face, that they are, they are real, right? That they are not, [00:49:00] uh, AI created, uh, deepfaking you or, or whatever. So, uh, there are like many layers, like events, conferences. mostly smaller meetups and, uh, all that stuff are so important basically.

Yeah.

Knut: yeah, that's so true. The thing you said about, like, we agree on, on nine things out of 10, like that's what I think separate. One of the things that separates Bitcoiners from, from, uh, other people, uh, is that instead of, being hostile against people with other opinions, uh, we know that we align on 90%.

So we try to find that 10 percent we disagree about because we know there's something to learn there. we, we know that that's, that's the interesting discussion. It happens right there because that other person has done the work to understand this thing. So obviously it's not a dumb person that is not worth talking to.

This person is worth talking to and we can learn something here. [00:50:00] And I, I think that's just a fantastic aspect of hanging out with other Bitcoiners and especially in real life, you can get into these deep, deep conversations that are so rewarding to just. It's very rewarding to be around Bitcoiners, it's, it's, it's the best thing.

Martin: And that's the best on Bitcoin, Ross. On Bitcoin, the people, you know, that's, that's definitely the best. Yeah.

Knut: Because we are, are bitcoins.

Martin: Yeah.

Knut: There's two aspects of the same thing.

Martin: Yeah, I cannot agree more, Knut. Yes.

Key Information About BTC Prague

Luke: Fantastic. Well, so, uh, with, with BT c Prague, uh, coming up here, I, I mean, uh, it, it's gonna be about, uh. Uh, two months at the time we released this, uh, anything important you can, uh, you can tell our listeners, uh, about, about BTCProg, and by the way, we, uh, we have a code if you want to get tickets, uh, code FREEDOM.

Uh, for a discount and, uh, yeah, so, uh, but any other, uh, key information and make sure to, uh, leave a comment, let us know what [00:51:00] you think, uh, like, subscribe and brush your teeth, uh, all that stuff. I love when I get to say that. Um, yeah, Martin, can you tell us any more, uh, key information about, uh, about the conference, uh, coming up here in a couple of months?

Martin: Yeah. Uh, the basic and the most important thing is, uh, is the people, you know, and we've talked it through already that you cannot learn, share, network, and have fun as much as on the conference. And, uh, I'm biased, you know, I don't want to talk about BTC Prague itself. Of course, for me, it's like a no brainer.

But, uh, Okay. Like a small sales window. Yeah. It's the best conference in Europe. Basically, like, really, we, we really work hard to be curate every single speaker, every single partner. We really, we really love people and the energy and the positive vibe of having people around and together for like tens of years.

So we really think how people will it. Move how they will [00:52:00] flow in the venue. Is there something important involved of spending a minute? If not, let's put something there. You know, is beer close enough? If not, let's put another beer stent there. You know? And we are really thinking about like. People first.

That's the most important. And I believe that that's the reason why we were able to deliver such a successful, even on the first shot, actually last year. And, uh, so that's like a theory, but, uh, come on, you know, Praxe is in the middle of Europe. It's like easy to access from anywhere. It's really wonderful.

So, uh, people who were there can probably confirm and, uh, if they haven't been there, it's good to give it a try. It's quite, the prices are quite reasonable. The beer is good. Summer is really nice. It's not really hot, but it's like still okay to wear shorts and t shirts for, you know, Whole day. And that great Bitcoin history of Prague and our non giving shit policy in Czech Republic [00:53:00] is, uh, is unprecedented and it's, it's hard to describe it, but people really need, need to live it, I would say.

Knut: Yeah, Prague, Prague is amazing in itself. The food is great, the beer is spectacular. And, yeah, so it's worth visiting anyway, but especially if you're going to the Bitcoin Conference.

Brno

Knut: Like we talked about, uh, what's the name of that other city? where you had the Czech consul, Ostrava. Uh, yeah. Halfway to Ostrava is Brno, right?

Martin: Yes. Bruno?

Knut: so here is a final question. Do you know, uh, what kind of event happens in Brno on a yearly basis on the 4th of January?

Martin: Oh, wow. I have no idea, to be honest.

Knut: It's the International Silly Walks March, where people dress up as young cleats in a suit and with a suitcase and does the silly walk. So there's a bunch of Czechs doing a silly walk march. Uh, yeah, uh, I thought the ice were taking care of the walks being [00:54:00] silly anyway in January, but yeah. Anyway, haven't been yet.

That's another event we should go to, Luke.

Martin: Yeah. Let's go there next year, guys. Yeah. And, and Bruno is, Bruno is great. Really great city. Really wonderful and not so crowded, uh, with tourists. Really enjoy everyone.

Knut: Yeah, I want to go there. I want to explore Czechia more, Czech Republic.

Freedom in Czech Republic

Martin: Yeah. Chicks are great guys. Uh, I dunno. Uh. Uh, I saw that there was some kind of experiment on the YouTube. I can, I can Google it later, but, uh, there were like two guys, uh, driving around the Europe stopping in every major capital and doing the experiment with like fake cocaine. So they've found like the biggest, most famous park in every single city, sat there on the bench.

They took a cell phone and did like the few lines of that fake cocaine and stop and measuring the time [00:55:00] until the police will come, you know, and in Sweden it was like two minutes or kind of, and in other countries it was usually like below five minutes and in Czech Republic it took 25 actually. And when police came and just looked like this, uh, and they turned around and walked away again, yeah, so we really do not give a shit unless you really bother someone, which is really great, and nobody really cares about Czech Republic, so it's really nice place to spend some time and even maybe consider living here because it's a calm place, uh, Really hidden of everything, you know, but still, still quite nice.

Knut: Yeah, there's something to be said there for, like, Sweden has some of the most harsh drug policies in all of Europe. So the prison sentences are long if you're, if they catch you with drugs. And also Sweden has the highest number of deaths from overdoses. So there's something to be said there for the [00:56:00] efficiency of prohibition.

So I mean,

Finland Connection

Martin: Yeah, I used to live in Finland, so I still remember how it was actually, okay, the beer is not worth of buying, like at least the local one, but I remember how crazy they drank then, you know, and, and those, and those drinking cruise, cruise ships, that was actually quite, quite interesting to, to experience once.

Luke: How long did you live in Finland? I

Martin: Yeah, for, for six years when I was kid, I even attended primary school there in, in Espo,

Luke: Wow. Okay. Okay. Well, yeah. Okay. Um, interesting. How did, how did you end up there?

Martin: Yeah, my father, uh, he worked and did science. He followed my grandfather's steps and he was invited to finish his PhD in Helsinki and he worked on some, uh, steel improvement, uh, quality proposal with sweets. With Sweden, uh, in, uh, University of Alvar Aalto in, in, in Helsinki. Yeah. So we've moved there as a [00:57:00] whole family.

Yeah.

Knut: is the grandfather who just casually invented a couple of aluminum alloys.

Martin: Yes. Yes.

Knut: . Yes.

Martin: Yeah. Yeah.

Knut: Cool history. Yeah.

Luke: Oh, yeah. But, uh, no, I agree with you though. I mean, like the, uh, the beers are, are definitely no, no comparison, but there's some other, uh, interesting, interesting things, but the community isn't nearly as, uh, yeah. As big in Finland as it is in Czech Republic, there's some work to do up here, but lots of great people, though.

I think there's usually a lot of Finns make it to all the conferences as well. So that's, that's pretty good.

Living in Czech Republic

Luke: And I actually have another question about coming to, since you mentioned living in the Czech Republic. Yeah, like, I guess this is this is a topic that comes up more with with Bitcoiners these days.

This sort of. So-called flag theory thing. That, that if you can, if you can live somewhere else or get another passport or, or something, uh, [00:58:00] yeah. That, that can be beneficial. Um, and I think there are some, some prominent bitcoiners, I won't dox 'em or anything, but, but to who, who have moved. So yeah. I, I Is it, is it a good, good place to, um, to, to move as a, as a foreigner?

Is it, is it easy to. Live, uh, would it be only in Prague, uh, or other places? Tell us more.

Martin: good question. I believe that, like, being like European Union, Habitant, it's actually easy for you to travel anywhere in the European Union and get a job and get an accommodation and do basically whatever. Finding a job while being a foreigner in Prague is not a big deal, you know. Many, many foreign companies have their headquarters there.

And, uh, like even working with English first is, is, is easy and, but it's definitely not a standard in, in other cities. Like, for example, here in, uh, Ostrava, like being a non [00:59:00] Czech speaker living here and trying to find, uh, like, Um, relevant or proper job might not be really easy, actually. So Prague, of course, other cities, maybe I would start from different perspective, maybe find a job first and move after.

But if you just can do Bitcoin and work remotely and work online without having a need to go to the office, like physically, oh, come on, like Czech Republic is a really nice place to be, to be in. Yes.

Luke: Fantastic. Good to hear. I mean, uh, more people, uh, should, uh, just come to BTC Prague, use, use code FREEDOM for your tickets and, uh, check the place out and, uh, and, uh, yeah, so, uh, great. Uh, Martin, can't wait to, to come see you again in, uh, in a couple of months in your home territory. Uh, BTC Prague, fantastic last year, can't wait this year.

Wrapping Up

Luke: Uh, anything else you'd like to, uh, to, uh, direct our listeners towards or, or, uh, [01:00:00] mention about, uh, the conference that you haven't already?

Martin: Yeah, just, uh, take some of your friends maybe with you, but, no, no, come on, yeah, like, just, first thing, guys, I like what you do, and Freedom Footprint, it's, uh, just that saying is, uh, prove that you are on the right track, we should, we should really take care of the freedom of the, uh, Self, we should be self sovereign, we should take our private data safe as in the name of the freedom.

You know, that's what we are losing the most. Yeah. So just, uh, stay strong on, on that mission.

Knut: You can count on us to do that. Like, that's what we do. We try to release freedom dioxide here. Uh, yes, to prevent global laming, uh, because that sucks. So,

Martin: Yeah.

Knut: yeah, all right. Well, Martin, this has been great. Uh, me also, like, I, I can just echo what Luke said. I'm looking forward a lot to seeing you again in Prague and [01:01:00] seeing everyone else and stumbling upon those beer taps that you have planted everywhere

Martin: Yeah.

Knut: In the conference.

So like, uh, yeah, truly looking forward to it. Uh, all the best and good luck with all the preparations and, uh, yeah. Use code, code freedom, and we'll start chilling that a lot more. Uh,

Martin: Yeah. Thank you very much for the invitation. It was a great, uh, to talk with you guys. Thank you once again and see you soon in Prague.

Knut: Right back at you. See

Luke: Likewise, Martin.

Martin: Bye. Bye. Bye.

Luke: This has been the Freedom Footprint Show. Thanks for listening.