SatoshiLabs announced on January 12, 2023, that Matěj Žák had taken over as chief executive of the hardware wallet maker Trezor1. Žák had served as the company's chief product officer before the move. He succeeded co-founder Marek "Slush" Palatinus, who stayed at the company to focus on strategy. Žák had joined Trezor in 2019 as a product manager, and the company promoted him to chief product officer in 2021.
The second CEO appointment at SatoshiLabs on the record since 2017
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jan. 17, 2017 | Vranova left as CEO. Alena Vranova left as Chief Executive Officer of SatoshiLabs |
| Jan. 17, 2017 | Palatinus became CEO. Marek Palatinus was named Chief Executive Officer of SatoshiLabs |
| Jan. 12, 2023 | Žák became CEO. Matěj Žák was named Chief Executive Officer of SatoshiLabs |
17 CEO appointments on the record in 2023
CEO appointments CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2023: 17
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 8 |
| 2020 | 7 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 17 |
| 2024 | 26 |
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2026 | 18 |
The move
SatoshiLabs called the handover a long-planned move. The Czech outlet e15.cz reported on January 12, 2023, that the change had been "dlouho plánovanou," a long-planned change, and that Žák had worked as Trezor's product chief before it2. Palatinus explained his own reasoning in Trezor's announcement. “The events of the past 12 months have only served to reinforce the importance and value of self-custody for the safekeeping of cryptocurrencies,” he said1. The moment felt right, he added, “to strengthen and refocus the leadership of Trezor by appointing Matěj as Chief Executive”. Žák answered in his own words. “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,” Žák said. “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”.
Trezor before and after
The handover landed as crypto exchanges wobbled. FTX had collapsed two months earlier, in November 2022, and e15.cz reported that November was Trezor's best sales month of the year because of it, citing commercial director Danny Sanders on the jump in demand for self-custody2. Palatinus kept his board seat and a role steering strategy and acquisitions, while Žák took charge of day-to-day product direction, SatoshiLabs said1.
What came next
Žák remained Trezor's chief executive through at least June 21, 2024, when CryptoSlate's editor-in-chief interviewed him at the Bitcoin Prague conference and identified him by that title3. He described the company's approach to transparency in that interview. “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,” Žák said. He also discussed Trezor's newest product at the time, the Trezor Safe 5, which CryptoSlate reported the company had just launched at the same conference.
Sources
- Jiří Kroulík, "Trezor appoints Žák as new CEO," SatoshiLabs, January 12, 2023, https://satoshilabs.com/news/trezor-appoints-zak-as-new-ceo
- "Tvůrci české kryptopeněženky profitují z pádu FTX, mění šéfa a chystají se na růst bitcoinu," e15.cz, January 12, 2023, https://www.e15.cz/kryptomeny/tvurci-ceske-kryptopenezenky-profituji-z-padu-ftx-meni-sefa-a-chystaji-se-na-rust-bitcoinu-1395971
- Liam "Akiba" Wright, "Inside Trezor's open-source mission for transparency: CEO Zak talks tech and team dynamics," CryptoSlate, June 21, 2024, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimwFBVV95cUxPdzZubDU2UzNVd3pzZjlDME5nVE11R2R6ajZqMUVDbEtfdmdub0RuNVNZNDRKQ3gtTWlRdmJpVUpHQXA1ODRWaUFfQ0JHUXpJQ09TMTRNZUdMbTRmMjUyWGJiQ3NfSGFfNnF6VlVaSjBlTnNjWDEycllycmFPQUMzZVg5OUxlN3dHWHZHamNsa1pUaUJyZklubDJKcw?oc=5