Trezor, the original bitcoin hardware wallet company, has appointed Matěj Žák, formerly Chief Product Officer, as its new CEO.
Žák takes over the leadership of Trezor from co-founder Marek “Slush” Palatinus, who will remain in the company, helping to guide the strategic, technical and visionary direction of the business. Žák will be focused on enhancing the overall usability of Trezor’s products to help stimulate wider crypto adoption, while ensuring the company is prepared to take full advantage of the next bull market.
Based in the crypto hotbed of Prague, Trezor is one of Europe’s leading tech brands and the second-largest crypto hardware wallet in the world by sales. Following the recent collapse of the crypto-exchange FTX, Trezor experienced a 300% uplift in sales. This increase in new users is expected to continue throughout 2023, as bitcoin and cryptocurrency holders increasingly lose trust in centralised exchanges and custodians, and look to self-custody their digital assets.
Žák joined Trezor in 2019 as Product Manager and was promoted to become Trezor’s first Chief Product Officer in 2021 after his vast product development experience helped establish Trezor as the most user-friendly self-custody solution on the market. Žák was also responsible for the development of the market-leading Trezor Suite software application, enabling Trezor device users to manage, buy and exchange their crypto in the most usable, secure, and privacy-focused way.
Before joining Trezor, Žák co-founded and led startups like Flits.live (live streaming) and What the Hill (Prague e-bike sharing). He originally graduated from Berklee College of Music and, even though he is still an active musician, he has built a career developing innovative technologies. Bitcoin and crypto security soon became his main focus and making them accessible to the masses is his primary mission.
As CEO of Trezor Žák will continue his dedication to delivering ever greater usability enhancements for its products and services, while ensuring that the business is in the best possible position to ramp up for the next bull market.
Exiting CEO, Marek ‘Slush’ Palatinus will remain at the company he co-founded as an advisor - channelling his vision and wealth of experience to help guide the strategic and technical direction of the business.
Matěj Žák said: “We’ve got an incredible team of people here at Trezor, whose expertise and dedication has helped create a legacy of industry leading crypto security products. Therefore, it’s an honour to be taking over the reins from Slush - who I've been able to learn so much from since joining the team four years ago.
“As CEO, I’m looking forward to building on our existing innovations and creating more well designed and easy-to-use products that make keeping your cryptocurrencies as safe and easy as sending a text message.”
Slush added: “The events of the past 12 months have only served to reinforce the importance and value of self-custody for the safekeeping of cryptocurrencies. This new age of enlightenment feels like the perfect opportunity to strengthen and refocus the leadership of Trezor by appointing Matěj as Chief Executive, putting us in the best possible position to take full advantage of the next bull market. I’m excited to take on my new advisory role in the company as we look to cement Trezor’s market leadership position in the ever-growing hardware wallet sector.”