OpenBazaar Developers Launch a Crypto Marketplace for Mobile

OB1, the developers behind the online decentralized marketplace and currency trading platform OpenBazaar announced a mobile counterpart called Haven.

Haven allows users to buy and sell goods and services directly with each other, using cryptocurrencies, without relying on middlemen who take a cut of merchants’ transactions or gather shoppers’ data.

The app is organized into four sections: shopping, social, chat, and a non-custodial multi-wallet. For all features of the peer-to-peer network, user information is stored locally and protected with end-to-end encryption, meaning only the parties involved in the sale or conversation are able to see the details.

Since OB1 launched its 2.0 of OpenBazaar, 250,000 nodes joined the permissionless network. Jenn Cloud, OB1 communications lead, said “there is a core user base of several thousand who frequently use the software and many more are casual users.” A substantial proportion of the “long-lasting nodes” are merchants.

Image via OpenBazaar

Cloud said:

“We’ve heard many stories from merchants about finding OpenBazaar a refugee from the high fees, restrictive terms and conditions, and poor treatment of merchants on eBay and Amazon.”

The app has many of the same features as OpenBazaar, but does not support P2P cryptocurrency trading. Additionally, dispute moderation is only supported by the desktop client.

The social feature is new and enables users to easily communicate with each other. Importantly, it is “not connected to transactions or any other activities on the network and will never post anything automatically,” said Cloud.

Like OpenBazaar, Haven will support BTC, BCH, ZEC and LTC. The representative said plans for a previously reported native token, OBC, are currently on hold.

Looking forward, however the team plans to add Ethereum support. Also, though “no firm plans have been made by the OB1 team… several in the OpenBazaar community have begun work to see if it’s possible to support Monero,” said Cloud.

Haven is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play. This week, the company is offering special deals, such as fifty percent off select electronics and Haven store gift cards, posted in the app “at undisclosed times.”

OB1 has raised $10.5 million to date from investors including Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, OMERS Ventures, BlueYard, Bitmain, Digital Currency Group, and venture capitalist William Mougayar.

Haven image via CoinDesk archives