We have enough money to make the company profitable, clarifies blockchain smartphone maker Sirin Labs

Sirin Labs, the creator of blockchain smartphone FINNEY, has issued a clarification on its recent interview with Bloomberg and said that it has enough funds make the company profitable.

The company raised $158 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) last year to fund the development of FINNEY. This, together with the $97 million raised from investors, brought the total funding to $225 million.

One important point to note here is that the ICO was done in ether, and the price of ether has fallen drastically this year and is currently trading in two digits. From its all-time high of $1,594 seen on 13 January 2018, ETH/USD has now broken below the $100-mark and trading at $91 at the time of writing (Kraken).

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sirin Labs Chief Executive Moshe Hogeg said that the company now only has funds to support 6 to 12 months of operations.

Bloomberg quoted Hogeg saying that the company, which last month announced the commercial launch of FINNEY blockchain smartphone, is now considering ditching the hardware and focus on shipping its software for other phone makers to use.

Another news outlet Globes reached out to Sirin Labs regarding these comments. The company clarified that the comments made to Bloomberg were in the context of “a specific scenario we were asked about in which there are no sales.”

“In such a situation, the company will switch its focus to sales of the software for other telephones. Fortunately, this is not the situation at present; we have orders for 100,000 devices from distributors alone. As we announced before and at the launch, selling software is indeed part of our vision, and of the company's business model, together with the sales of devices," it added.

The company also said:

“Sirin Labs raised over 200,000 ethers with a current value of $16 million. The company is managing its risks wisely and correctly, given the state of the market, by converting enough of the currency for its developmental needs.”

Sirin Labs also clarified its comments in a tweet saying that Hogeg’s quotes were taken out of context in the Bloomberg article: