From skeptic to evangelist in one Lightning strike: Dusan Matuska was running a cafe in Bratislava when lightning struck. One successful transaction later, he sold all his Litecoin, told his mom to do the same, and embraced bitcoin maximalism like a rebel manifesto.
Now, this cypherpunk is on a guerilla mission: educate people, demolish state-controlled money, and turn bubble machines into freedom tools—all powered by satoshis. Meet the educator weaponizing curiosity against financial tyranny.
First Steps
- What initially drew you to the world of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network?
Initially it was the craving for a more free world. I was an entrepreneur before discovering bitcoin and it just expanded my curiosity for searching for new tools for freedom. With Lightning it was a bit different. I was initially skeptical. In 2017 we were operating a crypto-only cafeteria called Parallel Polis in Bratislava (sister organization of famous Prague based Paralelni Polis) and the 2017 bull run showed us that on-chain Bitcoin was unusable for small payments with crazy high fees. 
So we were using Litecoin a lot. One day a friend of mine, Martin came and said: “Hey, this is called Lightning Network, a way to send bitcoin fast and almost with zero fees. Let’s try it.” But it was not working and payments did not go through. So I told him: “Well we need to stick with Litecoin.” But he came to me again after a few weeks and this time we made a smooth LN payment. Probably one of the first ones in Slovakia.
I was blown away and that day I sold all my Litecoin for Bitcoin and even told my mum to do the same 😉 I mark that day as the day I become a Bitcoin Maxi.
- Who or what has been your biggest influence in the Bitcoin community?
Since the beginning it was mostly the community of cypherpunks around Parallel Polis. Thanks to them I was immediately drawn to the path of libertarianism and privacy focused approach to bitcoin.
I think I was saved from a lot of shitcoins and scams by them as well 🙂 As for many bitcoiners it was also Andreas Antonopoulos who was my early hero and all his youtube videos and books. Those were my daily dose of inspiration and wow-moments. I still refer to a few of them if I want to send some education resources to people.
- What was the most challenging aspect of getting started in this space?
I remember that there were already a lot of educational resources in English in 2017 but not enough in Slovak language. For me the challenging part was also to find time to study since I was managing my previous company at that time and still studying.
After I decided to start teaching bitcoin the biggest challenge was to prove I can add value. People were rightfully sceptical of someone who wants to teach them bitcoin because they were afraid of some ponzi schemes and scams. So to build a trust took time and of course proof of work.
I like when people are sceptical because that attitude can save them a lot of money. Those who are greedy and don’t do their proper due diligence are those who fund the scammers.
- What are some common misconceptions about the Lightning Network that you encounter?
That you have to have a channel open with everybody you want to transact with. I use the analogy of the internet. I ask people – Do you have to have a cable from your house to every server and every website that you visit? This helps them to understand the beauty of routing.
Another misconception is that lightning bitcoin is some different token and has nothing to do with the “real” on-chain bitcoin. Also people are still afraid they have to be technically very skillful or need to watch bitcoin every day to be able to use it. I use the analogy again with the internet again or car.
I ask them “Can you explain to me in detail how the car engine and transmission work?” they get stuck for a while and laugh 🙂 I explain they don’t need to be mechanics and car experts to use the car. In the same way I download for them Blink or Wallet of Satoshi, send them the first few sats and they are blown away by the simplicity of the whole thing.
Building on Lightning
- What are the most exciting use cases for the Lightning Network that you’ve seen or worked on?
We are using LNswitch in our Bitcoin Center on Roatan to activate a bubble making machine (called Froggy) to show the power of LN being not only for payments. People are shocked when they see the speed and potential application of this technology. I also love LNURL-auth functionality to log into various accounts using the same self-custodial LN wallet with unique public-private key pairs.
I was once helping a project with an aim to build decentralised peer to peer DLC contracts on Lightning (very tough thing to do) and was super excited about the possibilities of decentralised finance to be built on top of Bitcoin and lightning. Sadly that project did not continue but this use case I hope will be built once.
- Are there any emerging technologies or trends that excite you in this space?
I am excited for bitcoin backed lending for people to not be forced to sell their coins and to do this with multisig options.
I was very excited as well by the Liana Wallet and their approach to multisig with timelock contracts using miniscript. I love the possibilities for inheritance planning using these building blocks.
I am in general super bullish on bitcoin education and projects like Mi Primer Bitcoin, our Bitcoin Educators Academy, and for example using LN in Value4Value way for Podcasting 2.0 to support creators.
Lightning Round
- If you could have dinner with any figure in the bitcoin space, who would it be and why?
I think Andreas Antonopoulos. I would love to chat with him about his journey, approach to education, his use of analogies and talk about where the bitcoin world is heading. He was a huge inspiration for me and an early hero and role model.
- Finally, what’s next for you personally, and how can we support your journey moving forward?
We are scaling our bitcoin mining in various countries. We are also developing a bitcoin mining pool (more like a hashrate marketplace) to be able to support bitcoin education globally and pushing a lot for Bitcoin Educators Academy to get it across the globe. You can help me let bitcoiners who are excited about education know about this project so they can get better at teaching bitcoin and increase the adoption with us. You can find more at amityage.com/bea
