The creators of OpenBazaar, a pioneering decentralized marketplace for P2P Bitcoin trading with no additional fees or restrictions, confirm the closure of their services citing liquidity issues to cover operating expenses.
Since September last year, the decentralized trading platform openbaza is, announced the possibility of closing its doors due to economic difficulties. At that time, the creators of this decentralized market indicated that the platform's growth had been stagnant due to low user attendance, so the platform was unable to achieve the level of growth and user adoption that was necessary to build a sustainable and profitable business in the long term. However, by the time it revealed its unfortunate situation, an anonymous donor was encouraged to provide a significant sum to the company, with which it was able to maintain its active operations for a few more months.
However, although the donation was important and helped the company to continue its operation until the end of 2020, the time has come when the company is once again forced to announce the closure of its operations, citing that OB1 Company, the company that maintains the market, cannot continue to cover the operating expenses of the platform.
OpenBaazar has announced that, starting January 15, OB1 Company will be dismantling most of the infrastructure that powers important parts of OpenBazaar, forcing it to shut down P2P Bitcoin trading operations.
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2014, the beginning of a dream
OpenBazaar was born as a pioneering and innovative idea in 2014, when a group of developers participating in the Toronto hackathon of that year presented their idea to create a decentralized P2P trading platform for the dark net. However, although this project won the competition, its presenters did not continue with its development. However, as it was an innovative idea, other developers were attracted by it and began to work on it to consolidate it.
OpenBazaar was born from the project presented at that hackathon, and that the developer Brian Hoffman Hoffman adapted it to create a decentralized P2P market open to the general public, and not one focused solely on the dark net. At that time, Hoffman joined other developers to create the company OB1 Company, with which they raised 1 million dollars in financing from large investors such as Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz y William MougayarThese resources, of course, drove the development of the project, which was launched to the public in 2016 and a few years later integrated support for new cryptocurrencies, , plus BitcoinOpenBazaar pioneered direct, middleman-free trading platforms and was always evolving to stay at the forefront of the industry.
The crude realidad
Despite the team's efforts, the platform was unable to achieve its goals, and by September 2020 it announced that it was facing financial problems that put its ability to operate at risk. The anonymous donation it received at the end of that month would allow the project to continue its operations until the end of the year, but OpenBazaar requires at least $100.000 to ensure its operation during 2021.
The lack of resources at the innovative trading platform is due to the fact that the level of growth and user adoption required has not been sufficient to build a sustainable and profitable business over time. Despite the difficult situation, Hoffman thanked the crypto community for the support all these years and invited those who still want to support the development of the project to participate in the construction of a decentralized network for direct trading without intervention or intermediaries.
The community of users also thanked the project for its efforts, reaffirming that if it closes its doors for good, it will have done so in an honourable manner. Another user invited OpenBazaar developers are encouraged to submit an attractive proposal to Cardano, assuring them that it is a very receptive community that will not hesitate to support them if they present an innovative idea.
There is only one chance to save OpenBazaar
Since September, the developers have announced that the only way for the project to stay afloat is with the financial support of the community. Although OpenBazaar announced its closure, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, similarly to what happened in September, and another investor or investors may be encouraged to support the project.
So far, users have until January 15 to withdraw their bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies from the platform. OpenBazaar's farewell occurs as Bitcoin is breaking new levels and reaching new all-time highs. At press time, Bitcoin maintains an upward trend, and is trading near the $37.680 USD.
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