Author: Marco Giorgetti
In June 2023, I attended BTCPrague and roamed around the expo area, stopping by every booth to spot the latest news and talking endlessly about several topics that had one thing in common: the orange theme!
Then, I stopped by the SatoshiLabs booth: big, cool, and full of people. The booth was square-shaped and divided into four sections, each featuring a small themed area.
I was drawn to the corner with vivid colors and smiling faces— a brand I didn’t know back then, and my natural curiosity kicked in.
This marked my very first encounter with Vexl. 😎
What was the outcome of that encounter?
TL:DR: I fell in love in five minutes. ♥️
If you, like me, have ever tried to purchase some sats, you’ve probably wondered at some point: where should I start?
I mean, everyone starts as a beginner, and it's important to start off on the right foot avoiding the most common pitfalls like KYC, online markets you don't really understand, and scammers.
Vexl was the perfect answer to my question.
This is deeply meaningful to me because I’m a Free and Open Source Software advocate and have been passionate about sharing knowledge for a long time. Every time a friend asked me something about Bitcoin and freedom of choice, I had mixed feelings: on one hand, I was excited that someone wanted to learn from me, but on the other hand, I felt sad when it came to the hands-on part.
I wasn’t comfortable with the feeling when the other person said to me: 'Cool, Marco, you opened his mind, something clicked in my head, and I want to learn how to do it practically right now!'
Epic fail: there wasn’t an easy-to-use tool available.
Don't get me wrong, there were, and there are, plenty of options available, but none were easy to use for beginners.
The last piece was still missing, and in June 2023, I found it in Vexl.
The natural next question after discovering Vexl was: how can I contribute?
How can I help grow local Italian communities to the point where there are enough people who can easily trade freely, privately, and without KYC?
While thinking about how to do it, I met Grafton in early 2024 at a Bitcoin meetup I co-organize in the city where I live, and that was the spark that got things going. ⚡
The Vexl Foundation was looking for someone to help spread the word, and I had the great pleasure of meeting Lea, Grafton, and Štěpán in Prague in June 2024. We shared our thoughts and vision (and some drinks), and by then, we knew we had a common goal: to help people trade Bitcoin as it was intended—peer-to-peer and without KYC.
No more, no less.
Another key reason that inspired me to start volunteering is that Vexl Foundation is a non-profit organization—an essential point, in my opinion, to avoid any misunderstandings, gray areas, and conflicts of interest.
After the summer, we started planning activities for the upcoming months, and I took the opportunity to kickstart the plan at Lugano's PlanB Forum in October.
Excited? Yes
Performance anxiety? Just enough
Worried about the result? No
Why not? Because everyone wants to trade Bitcoin like us as soon as they realize it's possible.
Luckily, with the help of the local meetup team, we organized two days of content in Italian as an official part of the Forum. Thanks to the contributions of many people, companies, and the city of Lugano, we were able to provide the stage for free for all attendees to enjoy the speeches.
It was a perfect opportunity to organize a workshop about Vexl for the whole local community.
The result of the two workshops, one each day, was a full house of people asking tons of questions, eager to make their first trade, set up their devices, and discover how many contacts in common they have.
The best part: trades didn’t end with the workshop.
It was amazing. A boost for me personally in my mission. 🚀
In late November, I had the second opportunity in Turin. I was invited by my good friends from the local SatoshiSpritz meetup and Bitpolito group, and it was a pleasure again: many questions, both technical and philosophical, great vibes, and several people who attended specifically to learn more about Vexl and P2P trading.
Some of them joined the meetup for the first time and offered kind words of appreciation for the topic we love.
They invited us to come back to Turin as soon as possible to sightsee the city together.
It was fantastic!
Easy: the more people trading P2P the better!
The sky's limit! 🙃
Looking back on my journey, I feel incredibly inspired and deeply grateful for the opportunity to support and empower local communities. From my first encounter with Vexl to volunteering as a community manager, each step has reinforced how essential it is to create spaces where people can trade freely, privately, and without the constraints of KYC. It’s clear to me that providing the tools and knowledge to navigate this space is not just valuable—it's transformative.
As I’ve seen firsthand, when people realize that trading Bitcoin in a decentralized way is possible not only in theory but also in practice, they are eager to dive in and embrace the freedom it offers.
Being able to contribute to the growth of local communities in Italy, helping people connect with the tools they need, and witnessing the spark of excitement in their eyes when they learn how to trade on their own terms has been nothing short of rewarding.
I’m incredibly fortunate to be part of this mission, and every event, workshop, and conversation fuels my passion even more.
The Journey has only just begun.