The decentralized business OpenBazaar is making a comeback and appears set to rise again after it faced closure in 2020 owing to fiscal issues and poor growth. According to social media and GitHub updates, the cooperative software development point is showing progress as recent as April 12 on creating a new interpretation of the business. Brian Hoffman, the former design lead at OpenBazaar, and CEO of OB1 has confirmed the progress made on a “new” version of the business, with his tweet on April 9, stating it’s “getting further intriguing by the day.”
Even though OpenBazaar was initially forced to shut down due to fiscal issues and gathering momentum, Hoffman suggested that “freedom of disquisition” and outside influence were significant reasons for its initial downfall.
In March 2021, Hoffman hinted that OpenBazaar would be re-launching, with his tweet that linked OpenBazaar’s GitHub runner that showed he’d been working on a new interpretation of the business.
Furthermore, OpenBazaar’s official account tweeted that “it is now time to grow again from the ashes,” and that “work has begun.” Adding to the substantiation that the business appears likely to relaunch, the OpenBazaar website presently bears the communication “openbazaar3.0- coming soon.” Hailed as a decentralized eBay, OpenBazaar initially bore the name “DarkMarket,” but changed it owing to community input to improve its public image.
It was first launched back in 2014, enabling users to interact directly with each other to make deals using Bitcoin.
As of now, it is unclear how OpenBazaar 3.0 will be different from the previous versions, but it appears to have gained renewed interest from Hoffman, who wants to make it more appealing to users.
This re-launch has been long-awaited by users, and the community eagerly anticipates what the new version would look like, the features it’ll carry, and how it’ll fare in the market.
