Anonymous donor saves OpenBazaar... for now

On September 25, OpenBazaar announced that their platform would likely shut down due to financial difficulties, stating that user growth and adoption had stalled.

According to a tweet published on Open Bazaar’s official Twitter account, a mysterious donor has since agreed to cover the cost of the marketplace’s operations through the end of the year.

While the exact amount of funding provided was not disclosed, OpenBazaar’s donation wallets have received over $13,000 as of publication. These funds came in the form of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and other crypto donations.

With its first beta released in 2014, OpenBazaar raised US$1 million in seed funding in less than a year with the help of Andreesen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and angel investor William Mougayar.