A Look into Crypto Security and Product Development

At the recent Bitcoin Prague conference, CryptoSlate had the opportunity to sit down with Matej Zak, CEO of Trezor, to discuss the company’s approach to product development, corporate culture, and the challenges of making complex crypto security features user-friendly.

Zak, who took over as CEO after shadowing co-founder Marek “Slush” Palatinus, emphasized the importance of maintaining Trezor’s startup culture and fostering an environment of proactivity and passion for crypto.

“We want to see this proactivity. We want to see people that are like super passionate about Bitcoin and crypto,” Zak stated, highlighting the company’s commitment to hiring individuals who align with these core values.

The CEO also touched on Trezor’s philosophy of radical transparency in terms of technology and business practices. Zak explained:

“Technology wise, we build everything we can in an open source way, which is a good, also, security sort of measure, because then you have more eyes kind of checking on whatever you are doing.

I think it’s good for building the trust with the community as well, because it’s basically building up, building out, like out in the open is I think great for, yeah, basically gaining the trust of, you know, whatever we are doing is, is the right thing for the community.”

When asked about the challenges of making complex crypto security features user-friendly, Zak acknowledged the technical nature of crypto and Bitcoin but emphasized the industry’s progress in improving user experience. He detailed Trezor’s approach to overcoming these challenges:

“We have in house research teams, a really strong one, that talk to our users all the time. And we really collect a lot of feedback and a lot of sort of proactive feedback where we really ask these users almost like an experiment.

It’s like almost like a science that we really want to get out of the core problem of where they face some challenges of, you know, why they are not maybe as comfortable using certain products or certain features.”

Zak also discussed the company’s latest product, the Trezor Safe 5, describing it as their most user-friendly hardware wallet to date. He highlighted its features, including a touch display, color support, and haptic feedback, all designed to provide a seamless user experience comparable to mainstream tech devices.

Addressing the internal dynamics at Trezor, Zak acknowledged the existence of two camps within the company: Bitcoin…