From a business perspective, having any donation based as a sole source of income at the core is something not recommended, while many have succeeded many have not ( and I am not referring to wider business not mixers).
As you have increased the optional fee to 0% it should act as a mechanism for users to increase anonymity as they mix in greater numbers increasing deposits but with that being said I would expect the subsequent 3 months of trading to bring you very little (if any) income via transaction fees.
04.09.2023 00:00:00 AM UTC
-Fee is now optional and will be treated as a donation, you can choose any amount between 0% and 4%
-Withdraw fee for each output address was lowered by another 25% from 0.0001BTC to 0.000075BTC
-Most of clearnet stability issues solved - still actively monitoring and testing
-Frontend responsive on mobile
-Backend-signers connection issues solved (the reason some withdrawals were delayed)
-FAQ updated
Update completed - everything is back online working in normal conditions | Please keep in mind that if you experience issues with the Clearnet version it's most likely because of our DDoS protection system, I am still tweaking it while we are under attack continuously. I'll sort it out without a doubt but it takes some time to do that, so until everything is set please use the Tor version if you experience any issues on Clearnet, that will most likely work without any issues at all.
I am working on displaying the anonymity set on the main page for each one of your selected outputs (number of deposits it could have originated from), so users know exactly how anonymous their bitcoin really is after using our service. I still feel like most users are not yet aware of how Whirlwind actually works and why it's the superior choice from a privacy perspective, so understanding what anonymity set means and seeing it grow each time you enter the website should make it easier for everyone to grasp the concept. It's just a matter of time until everyone gets used to the system and understands the undeniable advantages it offers.
I believe the decision to make the fees optional is wise for 2 reasons:
1. The only disadvantage of Whirlwind's mechanism is that at the start of the service the privacy set is weak due to the fact that there are few deposits. Making the fees optional should encourage more users to give the service a try, and by doing this they are helping all future users by increasing the anonymity set, making everything more secure.
2. A donation based business model was already proven to work before
The current plan is to leave the fees optional indefinitely, but if we won't generate enough revenue to be sustainable after the first 3 months we will have to implement a minimum fee again.
I'll answer any question or concern you might have!