Welcome to another round of Bitcoin News’ interview series where we dive into the stories of Bitcoin operators to help readers get a better understanding of what makes Bitcoin businesses “tick”.
Our goal is to put together the most in-depth set of interviews with similar themes to provide insight into what it takes to run a Bitcoin company and the ethos and values of different Bitcoin firms in the industry.
From Bitcoin OG’s to Startups to Operators, we dive into discussions with anyone and everyone in the Bitcoin world to help provide newcomers with a fun and interesting Bitcoin encyclopedia of knowledge and wisdom that may one day help them should they wish to contribute to Bitcoin.
Read on below for our latest interview with Jan Čapek, co-founder of Braiins.
Bitcoin News: When was the first moment you became passionate about Bitcoin? Where were you and what makes that moment memorable?
Jan: The moment I became passionate about bitcoin was back in 2011 when I first met Marek Palatinus (Slush). I was organizing a small sailing trip in Croatia and Slush told me how he was running a bitcoin mining pool using GPUs stacked in vegetable crates.
I wish I had entered the bitcoin ecosystem back then but it would take 2 more years before we took over the pool in April 2013.
Bitcoin News: What do you interpret to be Bitcoin’s core philosophy? How do you best embody this ethos on a regular basis?
Jan: Bitcoin’s core philosophy is to provide a decentralized, trustless and permissionless payment system that fixes the current broken and inefficient financial system. Bitcoin provides hard money to the masses. It’s a gamechanger.
Bitcoin News: In your particular Bitcoin niche, how do you measure success? Which singular factor contributes most to achieving this metric?
Jan: As in any business, success is measured by revenue and the overall perception of our company within the mining industry. We always look at the number of installed devices running Braiins OS or being managed by our Braiins Manager.
Bitcoin News: Where do you see the greatest potential for innovation within the Bitcoin space?
Jan: I still believe the Western hemisphere lacks a competitive ASIC that could serve as a counterbalance to the dominant players from the East.
Bitcoin News: Would you consider yourself a Bitcoin maximalist? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Jan: Yes, there is no second best. At the same time, I don’t try to force this opinion on others.
Bitcoin News: What lessons from Bitcoin’s “early days” do you wish new entrants knew?
Jan: Nothing is guaranteed, you can be under attack at any moment. Design your creations in permissionless and trustless ways.
Bitcoin News: Does Bitcoin’s global nature positively or negatively impact the Bitcoin niche you operate in?
Jan: If we consider tools for the bitcoin mining industry a niche, then I see the global nature of bitcoin as a major advantage. It allows us to expand our business in many geographical directions—quite literally. Each region has unique characteristics which also brings additional opportunities.
Bitcoin News: What’s the most impactful event on your roadmap for 2025 and why?
Jan: Expanding our R&D efforts and announcing our ASIC test chip while looking for partners.
Bitcoin News: What advice would you give to a fresh Bitcoiner aiming to leave their mark on the ecosystem?
Jan: Start by solving a problem you personally face or finding a way to improve your own experience within the ecosystem. If it works for you, there’s a good chance others will find it valuable too.
For example, we were getting tired of implementing workarounds for various firmware problems in mining machines on the server side. So, we built our own firmware that not only solves those problems directly but also improves efficiency.
Bitcoin News: When Bitcoin has reached global adoption, how would you like your contribution to Bitcoin’s history to be remembered?
Jan: On a personal level, I’d like to be remembered as ‘the guy’ who finally untangled the complexities of the ASIC Boost feature in the S9 eventually resulting in the first aftermarket firmware Braiins OS.
I also hope to be mentioned in the context of updating a totally insecure and outdated mining protocol.
As for Braiins, I’d like our legacy to be that of a global leader – one that played a key role in shaping the mining ecosystem into a true industry-standard.
Bitcoin News: If you could go back in time and ask Satoshi just one question, what would it be?
Jan: Would you consider changing the nonce size to 128 bits to simplify the design of future ASIC-based machines?
