Matyas Kuchar is a Czech Bitcoin OG and co-founder of BTC Prague, Europe's largest Bitcoin-only conference. Born into a country shaped by communist-era currency controls and a deep-rooted distrust of central authority, Matyas sits at the intersection of Bitcoin, monetary sovereignty, and the fast-shifting political landscape of the European Union. He helped spearhead a landmark Bitcoin-friendly legislation package that passed unanimously through the Czech parliament, eliminating capital gains tax on long-held Bitcoin and securing banking rights for crypto companies. In this conversation, he breaks down why the Czech Republic may be the El Salvador of Europe, and why the fight for financial and digital privacy is now a hill worth dying on.

* Note to clarify what Matyas meant about MiCA regulation: While MiCA does not directly regulate merchants, its travel rule requirements effectively forced third-party Bitcoin payment processors — e.g. Confirmo & Qerko — to treat fiat conversion as a financial service, requiring them to KYC every customer. Since they aren’t complying, these processors stopped supporting merchant Bitcoin payments, and since most merchants relied on them rather than managing self-custody, they stop accepting Bitcoin altogether.

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Matyas on X: https://x.com/Matyas44Cook

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– CHAPTERS –

00:00 - Coming Up...

01:29 - Introduction: Matyas Kuchar

03:16 - The EU’s Fragility and Bitcoiners as the Future