PAYING WITH CRYPTO
How to Buy a GrapheneOS Phone with Bitcoin or USDT
If you already hold crypto, you can pay for a GrapheneOS phone with it: no card, no bank transfer. Here's how it works at Privacy First, which coin to use, and what to check so your order goes through first time.
What you need
- A wallet or exchange account holding Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) or Tether (USDT).
- An order of AUD $500 or more. Our GrapheneOS phones are well over that, so the phone alone qualifies.
- A little extra for the network fee. The amount shown must arrive in full, so the fee comes on top.
Which coin should you pay with?
- USDT on Tron (TRC-20): usually the cheapest and fastest. It confirms in about a minute, and USDT's value doesn't move against the US dollar while you pay.
- USDT on Ethereum (ERC-20): the same coin on a different network. Often dearer to send, but some wallets only support it. See USDT on Tron vs Ethereum.
- Ether (ETH): confirms in a few minutes.
- Bitcoin (BTC): the most widely held; allow 10 to 20 minutes for confirmation.
Step by step
- Add the phone to your cart with any options you want, such as a bigger eSIM.
- Choose Crypto at checkout and enter your name, email and country.
- Pick your coin and network. The price in crypto is your order's price converted at Independent Reserve's rate, with no surcharge, and it's fixed for 45 minutes.
- Optionally, check the address you'll pay from. The payment page can check it against sanctions lists and, for USDT, Tether's blacklist before you send.
- Send the exact amount to the address shown, on the network shown. Scanning the QR code avoids typing mistakes.
- Wait for confirmation. The payment page updates on its own, and we email you once it's confirmed. We then prepare your phone and ship it.
Mistakes that delay an order
- Sending on the wrong network. USDT on Tron and USDT on Ethereum are different: send on the one you chose. Coins sent on another network may not be recoverable.
- Letting an exchange take its fee out of the amount. Many exchanges deduct their withdrawal fee from what you send, so less arrives. We accept payments up to 1.5% short; beyond that we'll email you to send the rest.
- Paying after the 45 minutes. A late payment is repriced at the rate when it arrives, and may then fall short.
- Paying from a sanctioned or frozen address. Every payment is checked automatically, and funds from a sanctioned, blacklisted or frozen address can't be accepted or returned. Check first if you're unsure where your coins came from.
What we ask for, and why
Paying in crypto doesn't make an order anonymous. We need your name and email to deliver your order and keep proper records, and your country to charge the right tax and ship correctly. What crypto does give you is a way to pay without handing over card details.
Once your phone arrives
If you hold crypto, the phone you manage it on matters. Our secure phone for crypto holders guide covers SIM swaps, forced unlocks and keeping wallet apps isolated.
Full details: Pay with Bitcoin, ETH or USDT, and section 10 of our Terms & Conditions.