OpenBazaar

OpenBazaar

OpenBazaar logo

OpenBazaar logo
Original author(s) Amir Taaki (DarkMarket), Brian Hoffman
Developer(s) OpenBazaar Team
Initial release 4 April 2016 (2016-04-04)
Repository github.com/OpenBazaar
Development status Active
Written in Python, JavaScript, Go
Operating system Microsoft Windows, OS X, GNU/Linux
Size 51 MB
Available in English
Type Online marketplace
License MIT License
Website openbazaar.org

OpenBazaar is an open source project developing a protocol for e-commerce transactions in a fully decentralized marketplace.[1] It uses the cryptocurrency bitcoin and was inspired by a hackathon project called DarkMarket.

History

Programmer and bitcoin enthusiast Amir Taaki and a team of other developers created the prototype of a decentralized marketplace, called "DarkMarket", in April 2014 at a Toronto Bitcoin Hackathon.[2] DarkMarket was developed as a proof of concept in response to the seizure of the darknet market Silk Road in October 2013. Taaki compared DarkMarket's improvements on Silk Road to BitTorrent's improvements on Napster.[2]

Soon after DarkMarket was revealed at the hackathon, developer Brian Hoffman forked the project and renamed it "OpenBazaar".[3] OpenBazaar, like DarkMarket before it, was initially licensed under the GNU AGPLv3, but after a discussion by the developers it was relicensed under the MIT license on September 8, 2014.[4] In mid-2015 the OpenBazaar development team began rebuilding the code base entirely; no original DarkMarket code remains,[5] with the first release of the software published on April 4, 2016.[6]

In an interview with Bitcoinist.net, OB1's COO Sam Patterson explained the goals behind OpenBazaar's feature launch: "Existing centralized marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have had decades to build up an impressive suite of features for their users. Our first release has the advantage of 0% fees and using Bitcoin, but it will be a long time before we are as feature-rich as the big platforms."[7]

On December 2016, the project received $3 million in funding from venture capitalist firms and investors[8] , adding up to a $4 million investment in the project.[9] As of February 2017, OpenBazaar had 10,000 online listings from 300 vendors.[10]

Design

OpenBazaar is built on several existing technologies. For sharing routing information it uses a Kademlia-based Distributed Hash Table, transactions between all parties are built as Ricardian contracts, and each step of a trade is cryptographically signed. This ensures authenticity of the data, prevents tampering with contracts, and allows for arbitration if a dispute arises. Escrow is achieved using Bitcoin multisignature. These 'moderated transactions' are 2-of-3 multisignature, with the buyer, seller, and a trusted third-party each having a key.[11] Work began on the 2.0 version of the software in mid-2016. [12] The new version of the software relies heavily on the InterPlanetary File System to ensure distribution of data, and since February 2017 it also supports Tor integration.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.usv.com/blog/introducing-ob1
  2. 1 2 Greenberg, Andy (2014-04-24). "Inside the 'DarkMarket' Prototype, a Silk Road the FBI Can Never Seize". Wired. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  3. ↑ Hern, Alex (2014-04-30). "Silk Road successor DarkMarket rebrands as OpenBazaar". The Guardian. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  4. ↑ O'Ham, Tyson (2016-01-28). "OpenBazaar Sam Patterson Interview". Bitcoinist.net. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  5. ↑ "OpenBazaar Blog Post". 2015-08-18. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  6. ↑ "OpenBazaar is Open for Business". openbazaar.org. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  7. ↑ "OpenBazaar in Depth: Interview with COO Sam Patterson - Bitcoinist.net". Bitcoinist.net. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  8. ↑ Stan Higgins (13 December 2016). "Bitcoin-Powered Marketplace OpenBazaar Raises $3 Million". Coin Desk.
  9. ↑ "OpenBazaar". CrunchBase. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "A New Version of OpenBazaar is Just Months Away". Coin Desk. 2017-01-01. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  11. ↑ "What is a Moderator / What are moderated payments?". openbazaar.zendesk.com. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  12. ↑ "OpenBazaar 2.0: P2P trade takes the next step". medium.com. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  13. ↑ "Development Update: February 3, 2017". blog.openbazaar.org. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
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