OpenBazaar
{{Short description|Decentralized darknet marketplace}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox software
| name = OpenBazaar
| title =
| logo = OpenBazaar logo.png
| logo caption = OpenBazaar logo
| logo size = 256px
| logo alt = OpenBazaar logo
| screenshot =
| caption =
| screenshot size =
| screenshot alt =
| collapsible =
| author = Amir Taaki (DarkMarket), Brian Hoffman
| developer = OpenBazaar Team
| released = {{Start date and age|2016|04|04|df=yes}}
| discontinued = yes
| latest release version = 2.4.10 (Desktop Client)
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2020|12|30|df=yes}}{{cite web
| url = https://github.com/OpenBazaar/openbazaar-desktop/releases
| title = Releases · OpenBazaar/openbazaar-desktop
| website = github.com
| access-date = 2021-04-22
}}
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date =
| programming language = Go, JavaScript
| operating system = Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
| platform =
| size = 130 MB
| language = English
| language count =
| language footnote =
| genre = Online marketplace
| license = MIT License
| website =
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}}
OpenBazaar was an open source project developing a protocol for e-commerce transactions in a fully decentralized marketplace.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80EwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|title=Building Blockchain Projects|last=Prusty|first=Narayan|date=2017-04-27|publisher=Packt Publishing Ltd|isbn=9781787125339|language=en}} It used cryptocurrencies as medium of exchange and was inspired by a hackathon project called DarkMarket.
History
Amir Taaki and a group of programmers from Bitcoin startup Airbitz created a decentralized marketplace prototype, called "DarkMarket", in April 2014 at a Bitcoin Hackathon in Toronto.{{cite magazine|url= https://www.wired.com/2014/04/darkmarket |title= Inside the 'DarkMarket' Prototype, a Silk Road the FBI Can Never Seize |last= Greenberg |first= Andy |magazine= Wired |date= 2014-04-24 |accessdate= 23 August 2014 }} DarkMarket was developed as a proof of concept in response to the seizure of the darknet market Silk Road in October 2013.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/30/silk-road-darkmarket-openbazaar-online-drugs-marketplace|title=Silk Road successor DarkMarket rebrands as OpenBazaar|last=Hern|first=Alex|date=2014-04-30|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-03-08|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} Taaki compared DarkMarket's improvements on Silk Road to BitTorrent's improvements on Napster.
After the hackathon, the original creators abandoned the prototype and it was later adopted and rebranded to OpenBazaar by a new team of developers.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2017/03/fed-proof-online-market-openbazaar-going-anonymous/|title=The Fed-Proof Online Market OpenBazaar Is Going Anonymous|last=Greenberg|first=Andy|date=2017-03-06|magazine=Wired|access-date=2019-03-08|issn=1059-1028}} On 4 April 2016, OpenBazaar released their first version, which allowed users to buy and sell goods for Bitcoin.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/openbazaar-official-release-darkmarket/|title=OpenBazaar launches version 1.0 with aims to become the 'uncensored' Amazon|date=2016-04-04|website=The Daily Dot|language=en|access-date=2019-03-08}} The company announced the closure of their servers on 15 January 2021.{{Cite tweet |user=openbazaar |number=1346104369566121986 |title=It is with heavy hearts that we announce that @OB1Company will be decommissioning most of the infrastructure powering important parts of OpenBazaar on January 15th.}}
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See also
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}