The Problem We Were Actually Solving
Our primary goal was to facilitate seamless transactions between buyers and sellers of digital goods, leveraging the benefits of blockchain and decentralized networks. We aimed to create a marketplace where creators could sell their products to anyone, anywhere, without the need for intermediaries like banks or traditional payment processors. This setup would allow us to sidestep the complexities and costs associated with international transactions.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Initially, we relied on popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal to process transactions. However, these services proved to be unsuitable for our needs, as they often employed geo-blocking mechanisms to prevent transactions initiated from our country. We attempted to work around this by using VPNs and proxy servers, but the added latency and connection issues resulted in a poor user experience.
Moreover, we encountered difficulties with transaction reversal and chargebacks, which exposed us to significant financial risks. Our attempts to comply with the payment gateways' anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations led to lengthy and costly paperwork processes. When it became apparent that our business model was incompatible with these payment gateways, we were forced to rethink our approach.
