Bitcoin, Blockchain & more
Dezentralshop from Switzerland - our philosophy
Dezentralshop.ch - an online shop you can actually touch!
In our showroom you can view, touch and even test various Bitcoin-related items.
Bitcoin is money
We don't just accept Bitcoin - we use it ourselves. Wherever possible, we pay suppliers in Bitcoin, even when that isn't always the economically most convenient option.
Circular economy instead of theory
Bitcoin should circulate.
We live that,
instead of just talking about it.
Open Source
Technically relevant products - hardware wallets, backup solutions, nodes - are consistently open source with us. No black boxes, no closed-source dependencies.
Curated & tested
Every product in the shop is used, tested and understood by us. There's no "should work in theory" with us. We know why something is there - and how to use it.
Partners
Partnerships in the rabbit hole
To offer you the best possible service, we're happy to work and exchange ideas with various partners.
Here's a small overview: feel free to have a look at them too.
Our story
From the community. For the community.
Dezentralshop wasn't born on the drawing board, but out of a very practical need:
In autumn 2021 it all began in a small Telegram chat of the local Bitcoin community. We organised meetups, exchanged ideas - and kept wanting to order Bitcoin books, hardware or stickers from abroad. It quickly became clear: individual orders from Germany are expensive, and customs and shipping eat up resources unnecessarily.
So we organised group orders. Improvised, laborious, but collaborative. The goods were brought to the recipient via the meetups - something that's still possible to this day!
At some point the obvious question came up:
"Are there even any CH merch shops yet?!"
From the community. For the community.
An important turning point came when Alex was looking for really good Bitcoin stickers - and simply couldn't find any that met his standards. So he took matters into his own hands. The result: premium stickers that last for years, defy wind and weather and still look like new even after five years on the car. You could pay in sats, directly via Lightning.
The kick-off
On 18 November (2021), Alex wrote in the chat: "Does anyone fancy having the time and capacity to build a sticker shop with me?"
Right time, right place: Jonathan had time and was looking for a meaningful project. The answer was clear: I'm in.
We sat down together, built a small shop - and immediately went a step further. Since Bitcoin books were in constant demand anyway, we promptly bought the entire range from Aprycot Media. Alongside stickers, there were suddenly books too.
The range expanded quickly; new products were requested by the community and added. By now there are over 300 different ones!
Dezentralshop became more than a sticker project.
Bitcoin first - and sometimes Bitcoin only
One thing was clear to us from the start: Bitcoin is money.
We deliberately built the technical foundation on open-source software. WordPress, BTCPay Server, Lightning - supported by a friend from the community with his own powerful node.
One of our favourite anecdotes:
When we officially launched on Bitcoin Pizza Day (22 May 2022), fiat payment wasn't ready yet. Too many hurdles that couldn't be cleared in time. Pizza Day is the day on which, for the first time, a good from the physical world changed hands for Bitcoin. That's exactly why we were determined to launch on that day.
So for the first few days we were a Bitcoin-only shop - not for marketing reasons, but simply because it worked.
The rabbit logo - a stopgap that stayed
Our logo, the white rabbit, was never originally meant to be the final logo.
While building the website, we simply needed a placeholder. The motif comes from an old graffiti stencil from teenage days. A photo of it, cut out in Photoshop - and the interim logo was done.
The launch came.
The placeholder logo stayed.
Today it's probably the longest-lived stopgap at Dezentralshop - and a firm part of our identity.
Who we are
Alex
Bitcoin-obsessed, passionate climber, reaching high - just like the Bitcoin price. Originally from the outdoor/sports industry, he has spent years working his way deep into Bitcoin, economics and the related literature. Alex knows pretty much every relevant Bitcoin book, is extremely well-read and responsible for purchasing, range and sales - with a mix of professionalism and likeability that you rarely find.
Jonathan
The technical part. Point of contact for nodes, wallets, seed backups, encryption and everything that happens beneath the surface of Bitcoin. Support out of conviction: when someone in the Bitcoin space needs technical help, the answer is often simply: Ask the Wicht.
The hands-on online shop
Dezentralshop is not an anonymous internet project.
We're at meetups, at all the major Swiss Bitcoin conferences and we run a showroom. You can drop by, ask questions, shake hands.
The first time Dezentralshop appeared in the physical world was already in the winter after its founding, at the Bitcoin Baden conference.
Dezentralshop grew out of the community - and has stayed firmly anchored there.
If you're bringing someone new to Bitcoin, you can send them to us with a clear conscience.
