The Problem We Were Actually Solving
Our platform had a simple yet robust architecture: we used the standard combination of PayPal, Stripe, and a locally-based bank transfer mechanism. However, as soon as we launched the platform in the restricted country, PayPal and Stripe promptly disabled access to their services, and our partner bank transfer mechanism proved unreliable due to high fees and slow transaction times. We were left with a platform that couldn't handle local transactions, let alone international ones.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
We attempted to circumvent the problem by using a VPN to make international transactions appear as local ones. Sounds like a simple hack, right? Wrong. Not only did it violate the terms of service of both PayPal and Stripe, but it also added unnecessary latency and complexity to our system, which ultimately led to a cascade of errors and abandoned transactions. The code that drove this solution looked something like this:
let local_ip = IpAddr::new(192.168.0.1);
