Announcement
The Pixel + Graphene/Calyx is an amazing privacy option for users and Bitcoiners everywhere, and we fully support their use case and encourage users to use them. However, there are reasons why we are walking this back from our storefront. This post will highlight our reasoning.
Backstory
In the early of 2023, we rolled out a new product line under RoninDojo: RoninMobile. The vision we had was to be the "One Stop Shop" for Privacy, that Bitcoiners could go to. The end goal was to provide a bundled kit with everything someone would need to be sovereign and private from the start:
- Tanto
- Steel Seed Backup
- De-Googled phone
We did eventually roll this kit successfully out but learned a lot along the way.
Learning Points
Logistics
As many know, we are working on opening our business to serve the full extent of the Bitcoin space, meaning global shipping and support. This is extremely challenging for a company our size without acquiring VC funding. This challenge was exacerbated when RoninMobile was introduced. The cost of shipping, import taxes, electronic fees, etc., made the global shipment a financial liability rather than an opportunity to conduct business. To which, we cannot afford to operate at a loss.
Ease of Installation
The RoninMobile initial release model was designed to provide two main services:
1. Privately purchase (Serial Number not connected to end customer)
2. Flashing service
Roadmap included a third service: Custom fork of Graphene with pre-installed privacy and bitcoin apps.
Though we didn't get to the custom fork, purchasing privately is still a huge plus. However, the reality is that the convenience we provided with a verifiable, ready-for-use, pre-flashed Pixel was the main selling point.
Decision Point
As advocates for Sovereign individuals we believe users should start to learn how to flash themselves. The changes made by Graphene Team which simplified the installation process and recent release of Bitcoin QnA's GrapheneOS Guide (original), we decided this was the perfect time to refocus our energy on improving our Tanto options and RoninDojo software.
We will revisit this option again in the future, but for now we will continue to focus and build the easiest to use, most reliable Bitcoin node, providing the best privacy tools in the space!
As always we appreciate your continued support!
