This discussion happened because of this video from Vlad Costea:
According to @LeaPetras , Vexl is like Tinder for bitcoiners… but safer thanks to the web of trust system that’s implemented.
Find out more about @vexl by listening to S14 E20 of the Bitcoin Takeover podcast – now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube!
And I replied with my honest opinion on this:
“I’m not impressed. They have no business plan, no way to earn sats other than being funded, no escrow, no way to find people except by a web of trust. Okay the phone numbers are encrypted, I’ll trust that. Not sure it’s open source by the way.
The only thing I like about vexl, but I still haven’t used it at all, is how you can trade anything, not just bitcoin. You can just make a listing for some furniture and if someone wants it they can meet up and buy it.
I also don’t like the personal meet requirement. It creates attack vectors. I’m not going to meet a stranger to swap 500 euros cash for sats. Whereas peach does escrow and you can do cash at meetups, it’s safer. It also takes 15 minutes just to explain how vexl works. That’s not gonna help with increasing the userbase”
Lea Petras replied on my points:
This is also a perspective how to look onto @vexl , but from my point of view:
📊 No business plan means we are not turning users into product.
💰 There are ways to earn sats, but we chose not to by design. We want to keep the app as accessible as possible.
🙃 No escrow means nothing else than that we are truly pure P2P.
🫶 Also, any rookie can use the app without prior ownership of any #Bitcoin .
👩👩👦👦 Discovering people by the WoT is the best and most reliable way how to do so. We are doing it in an ingenious way.
🫂 And as for the personal meeting and using cash: please show me a better way how to do a p2p trading without leaving any trace i.e. with an online payment or a wire transfer (and with complete strangers 🥴).
🫡 And yes, we are fully open source: https://github.com/vexl-it
But sure, I’ll take the critique of my explanation skills.
It is quite a unique concept and I will keep improving until a light bulb goes off in your head under 2 minutes (like
https://twitter.com/LeaPetras
@satsdisco
can ♥️)
So yes, it is open source. I accept the points Lea makes but I still don’t quite like the implementation. I got Vexl from the guy with the dog named Ash himself in BTCPrague, there was no way to open it up for Greece, and he explained it to me two times, again in Riga. And I was willing to figure it out. A casual user will not bother that much.
On the other hand we have peach bitcoin which is a powerhouse. It does escrow, multiple payment options, the user interface is gorgeous and fast. It’s self-custodial, open source, can connect to your own node, has advanced coin control, group hugs meaning batch transactions for these high-fee environments, liquid BTC and it’s only getting better.
I know I’m comparing peaches to oranges here but I just don’t see vexl taking off without the marketing push done by SatoshiLabs (Trezor’s parent company).
Again, what I do like about Vexl is that you can run a local marketplace with nothing else, just add listings for whatever goods or services you want to sell, be it legal or illegal, you can just do it on an encrypted app and depend on your web of trust. That is unique, and I’m sure we’ll see some case study where vexl is a pivotal part of that scenario.
So, which is the Tinder of Bitcoin? You can match on vexl and you can match on Peach. Both have strengths and weaknesses. It’s up to you, I suggest you download both and give them a try.
