Ladislav Mecir, a resident of the Czech Republic, is known for being the most active contributor to Bitcoin’s Wikipedia page. Interestingly, the 57-year-old grandfather does not own any Bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency.
He has also never mined cryptocurrencies, according to The Outline. Mecir was quoted as saying:
“I am writing for a version of me that does not know these things. I am writing the things that if I came not knowing anything, I would appreciate to see.”
The former high school math teacher discovered Wikipedia back in the early 2000s, when he was looking for a career change. He mentioned that his salary as a teacher was low at the time, not enough to meet living expenses for his growing family.
In an attempt to fix things, Mecir then decided to look for work as a computer programmer and this, he says, saw him learn about Bitcoin for the first time in 2012. After reading about the cryptocurrency, Mecir says he felt like it was “going to change everything.” He added that he “was surprised that something like this can even exist.”
Editing Bitcoin’s Wikipedia Page
Soon after learning about Bitcoin, the 57-year-old started reading about the cryptocurrency’s underlying blockchain technology. He noted that by actively contributing to Bitcoin’s Wikipedia page, he was able to truly understand how the digital currency works.
Notably, many of the citizens of the Czech Republic are quite passionate about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The European country is also where the first Bitcoin mining pool was established.
Mecir spends a few hours every day editing cryptocurrency articles written in English as well as in Czech. He recalled a time when he was studying at his university where reading about economics or the latest scientific discoveries wasn’t allowed.
These restrictions were mandated by an authoritarian regime at the time. Mecir revealed he is completely against censorship and even if regulators someday ban the use of Bitcoin, he’d still want Wikipedia pages dedicated to cryptocurrencies to remain accessible, due to their historic value.
To date, the Bitcoin Wikipedia page has been removed and then brought back online on a number of occasions. According to Mecir, this could because a lot of people still think cryptocurrencies are a scam or some type of Ponzi scheme.
