Man explains the reason for taking on an unbelievable mission for crypto

By 2030, a Bitcoiner from Slovakia hopes to teach 100 million people. He tells how he met Satoshi Nakamoto and other notable Bitcoin supporters.

Duan Matuska is a Bitcoin educator and consultant, among other things. By 2030, the Slovak hopes to have educated 100 million people about Bitcoin (BTC) through speeches, podcasts, webinars, seminars, and possibly a Bitcoin teaching center in a faraway location (plans are currently under wraps).

He works out at a small-scale Bitcoin mining facility in Slovakia, co-founded a crypto cafe called Paralelni Polis in the capital city of Bratislava, and has translated well-known Bitcoin publications into his home tongue, Slovak, in addition to his Bitcoin teaching ambitions.

But how did he get here in the first place? What role does meeting Satoshi Nakamoto have in this?

It all begins with Bitcoin, which he learned about in 2015. But, like many others, “I didn’t pay any attention.” He told Cointelegraph, “I believed it was a fraud, a pyramid system, and all kinds of things.”

Nonetheless, Matuska didn’t so much fall as swan dive down the rabbit hole during the 2017 bull run, armed with a background in mathematics and boosted by the passion of a tenacious buddy who was interested in open-source technologies.

“Oh my God, this Bitcoin thing is something truly incredible,” he instantly realized.

He took time away from his teaching and consulting positions to learn more about Bitcoin. Within months, he had put his public speaking skills to use by giving the first of several free Bitcoin seminars. In early 2018, something clicked at his first “open workshop,” which drew 40 or 50 participants.

“It comes naturally to me to teach something about which I am passionate. I gave Bitcoin-related webinars, consults, and free speeches, among other things. Then, in Bratislava, we formed Paralelna Polis.”

The crypto café, as it’s sometimes called, is the younger sibling of Prague’s Paralelni Polis cafe. It’s a coffeehouse dedicated to alternative learning, or “parallel schooling,” which dates back to the Soviet era in Czechoslovakia.

It’s a suitable moniker for a secure environment where people can learn about, experiment with, and eventually use cryptocurrencies. “There will be no fiat,” Matuska continued.

At the cafe, there are clear parallels between teaching about restricted environments under communist rule and learning about an alternative financial world where fiat currency is excess to necessities. Matuska elaborated:

“So, rather of fighting the system, the plan was to create a parallel system.” Identical to Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a nonviolent form of resistance against the establishment. It won’t break things, but it will gradually render them obsolete.”

Matuska met modest crypto aficionados while working as a barista at the cafe, ranging from 73-year-old former bankers to older folks inquisitive about crypto transactions.

“When I teach people about Bitcoin, I frequently use the example of the 73-year-old man. Anyone can learn how to utilize a Bitcoin wallet and make Bitcoin payments if he can.”

Even better, the septuagenarian used Bitcoin since it was “easier for him than using internet banking,” according to Matuska, who confirmed to Cointelegraph that the old guy was not Satoshi Nakamoto.

While the Bratislava crypto café shuttered owing to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the Prague cafe continues to operate. Furthermore, the groundwork had been created, and Matuska had two realizations: Bitcoin is for everyone, and Bitcoin solves issues.

It’s not just some great technology or “number-go-up technology” for Matuska, whether it’s sending money to a cousin in the United States, bequeathing money to grandchildren, or just “helping people save money to battle inflation.”

“My teaching colleagues are wondering about how to educate kids about Bitcoin,” his girlfriend said one day. Is there a book that they can read? Matuska then moved his attention from teaching adults to also teaching youngsters.

Matuska has distributed over 2,000 Bitcoin-related publications to schools around Slovakia, translated into Slovak by himself and his team, thanks to the aid of other Bitcoin educators in the space and a successful crowdfunding campaign.

It was a smart move for him to expand his Bitcoin education ambitions into schools. To fulfill his aim of educating 100 million people about Bitcoin by 2030, he’ll need all the aid he can get. Matuska used to keep track of the figures using “an excel spreadsheet.” Then there was the time when I used to keep track of how many times a video had been seen on YouTube. However, there was an excessive amount of overlap.”

He’s now working on a set of metrics to help him achieve his objective, most likely counting the number of downloads of the Bitcoin-related podcasts he produces.

Matuska answers frequent questions and discusses thought experiments he was exposed to during his Bitcoin teaching in this audio series. One of the most popular thought experiments is a parody of Satoshi Nakamoto’s anonymity, and it’s from his very first podcast.

It’s called “How I Met Satoshi,” and it’s about a hypothetical meeting with Bitcoin’s creator. Matuska elaborated:

“We don’t need to know if he was a nice guy or a bad guy, or if he was orange, blue, yellow, or black, or anything, just like Pythagoras and his theory.” The important thing is that the Pythagorean theorem works every time.”

Thousands of years after Pythagoras’ death, it is able to establish mathematically that the Pythagorean theorem holds true. “Satoshi’s computations will be the same.”

While Matuska “meets” Satoshi, the true “meeting” that comes when you begin to connect with the works of a genius, whether it’s Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, or Aristotle, is more important.

Finally, Matuska stated that we “should be delighted that we don’t know who this guy is” in regards to Bitcoin’s originator.

“The best thing Satoshi ever did was invent Bitcoin.” Satoshi’s second-best move was to dissipate.”