OpenBazaar was the biggest marketplace in the world that accepted Bitcoin. In early 2021 the platform had to close its business for good because it ran out of money. New investors were nowhere to be found and even donations from its community couldn’t save it. In effect, the Bitcoin community lost one of its most iconic platforms.  Nobody stepped up to take OpenBazaars place and it became silent around the marketplace. After a long time, there is sudden movement and it seems that OpenBazaar could reopen after all these years.

Will OpenBazaar open its doors again and which competitors have started their Bitcoin businesses recently?

OpenBazaar 3.0 is being teased

At the end of March, the Twitter account of OpenBazaar broke its silence. According to the tweet in question, the platform is looking for volunteers to support its development. This is not the first time that the account got active and teased a possible relaunch. In January 2021 just a few days after closing down, the account asked what features users would like to see if OpenBazaar 3.0 would open its doors.

The idea behind OpenBazaar was to provide a marketplace that is decentralized and is making use of Bitcoin payments. It remains completely in the dark how and when the platform is going to reopen. Powering a decentralized marketplace for all types of goods is not as easy as it seems and it also raises the question of how OpenBazaar is going to survive without sponsors.

Plebbin attempts to conquer a niche

Shops that accept Bitcoin are not exactly new. There is plenty of options worldwide to pay with Bitcoin as well as with other cryptocurrencies. However, a marketplace that runs exclusively on Bitcoin is hard to find.

With Plebbin a small company in Poland started to change this. Everybody can make an account and sell their used goods. This is a very similar concept to platforms like eBay Kleinanzeigen in Germany or Marktplaats in the Netherlands. The difference is that all items are priced in Satoshis and payments are being made with Bitcoin exclusively.

These kinds of platforms are incredibly important for user adoption since there are way more people willing to pay with cash or PayPal. While it is true that not many people are using them, it is still important to have them around to build those products needed to initiate Bitcoin adoption and offer a true alternative to fiat currencies.