You can pre-order Sirin Labs’ $1,000 blockchain phone – but there’s a catch

Believe it or not, the thousand-dollar, crypto-centric smartphone from Sirin Labs is actually here. It officially launched today at an exclusive event in Barcelona.

Blockchain fans are now able to place the first orders for the FINNEY, a fully-featured smartphone that comes complete with an embedded hardware wallet for storing cryptocurrency, priced at $999.

Sirin Labs also intends on affording users the power to convert cryptocurrency stored in the integrated ‘cold wallet‘ with other digital assets on the fly, without having to interact with any exchanges.

Unfortunately, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and SRN – the firm’s native token – are the only cryptocurrencies currently supported by the internal exchange service. Although, Sirin Labs did promise to add support for more currencies moving forward.

Conversion rates between cryptocurrencies will be discovered automatically by the phone through special ‘liquidity partners.’ A proprietary algorithm is said to determine appropriate network fees by first checking congestion of the underlying blockchains.

Both functions are managed by a new operating system, SIRIN OS, which the firm advertises as an “ultra-secure, Google-certified fork of Android.”

Below are all the juicy specs – it has 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. Hard Fork is set to receive a FINNEY for testing – so keep an eye out for an extensive review once we get one.

The company also revealed it is opening two flagship concept stores soon. The first one will be in London, scheduled to open next month, and a shop in Tokyo is said to be up-and-running in January 2019.

Sirin Labs mentioned the London store will be used as a “blockchain academy” for the cryptocurrency community, but at first glance it seems like an elaborate ‘scheme’ to get people who have no idea about blockchain to try out the FINNEY, more than a real academy.

Now, here’s the ultimate catch – you can certainly order the FINNEY now, but you’ll only be able to pay for it in Sirin Labs’ own cryptocurrency.

The firm has promised “additional channels of payments” soon, including credit card, but hasn’t given a specific timeframe, except for the FINNEY being available through Amazon Launchpad from January onwards.

Oh, and I would be guilty of grave disservice if I didn’t share arguably the best part of the whole affair – this ‘inspirational’ FINNEY advertisement featuring none other football megastar Leo Messi, who currently serves as a Sirin Labs brand ambassador.

Unfortunately, Sirin Labs’ momentous occasion has been spoiled by recent news of its co-founder and co-CEO, Moshe Hogeg, standing accused of misappropriating investor funds raised via two initial coin offerings. The Times of Israel reports Hogeg is countersuing, officially denying the claims.