Ok, not OP but also wired-to-argue-for-no-reason :

People present graphene as some independent project that throws the middle finger to Google.

In reality Google could very easily stop tolerating the sandboxed playstore and require them to follow the same “certification” as the other.

Sure graphene could still ship but without the playstore that will be a very different experience. You can roll with F-Droid etc but your choice of apps would be very limited.

Basically, I just wanted to point out that graphene is definitely working with the permission of Google and google could very well sabotage the project in a few dumb requirements.