CornerMarket

CornerMarket is a Web3 marketplace which connects local merchants and customers. By accepting crypto, the platform empowers merchants to save money on transaction fees and marekting expenses.

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The Story of Building CornerMarket

Inspiration

The idea for CornerMarket was inspired by the struggles of small businesses during the pandemic and high inflation. We wanted to leverage blockchain technology to help local merchants connect better with customers and build thriving communities.

After learning about global central bank digital currency initiatives, our team was inspired to explore integrating CBDC as a means of payment to CornerMarket. It seemed a natural evolution for CornerMarket as a Web3 shopping and payments platform.

What it does

CornerMarket is the last mile of crypto adoption in real life. By accepting crypto and CBDCs as a form of payment, local merchants can save money on transaction fees and also marketing expenses. The goal of CornerMarket is to build a system that is fair for small businesses and helps them to thrive.

This integration of CBDC, CornerMarket has effectively solved the pain points around moving funds between crypto and fiat. CBDCs provide a seamless bridge between traditional fiat and crypto. Users can use CBDC in CornerMarket to purchase deals and merchants get paid out in CBDC, which they can easily off-ramp back to fiat via their central bank account.

How we built it

We started with EVM chains, using Solidity and React for the smart contracts and mobile app.

Challenges

  • Eliminating blockchain complexity for end users
  • Scaling while maintaining decentralization
  • Building with emerging standards like account abstraction
  • The uncertain timelines for CBDC launches globally

Accomplishments

  • Live on Polygon & BNB Chain with over 1000+ beta users
  • Positive merchant feedback on the app
  • Users happy with the gas-free solution
  • Accepted into Berkeley and XRPL accelerators
  • Integrated multiple fiat on-ramps and used Permit2 for gasless transactions
  • Designed flows for future CBDC acceptance by merchants
  • Updated the CornerMarket UI to include CBDC as a payment method
  • Built endpoints to interface with CBDC platforms when launched

Learnings

  • Cost structures of small businesses
  • Importance of UX in web3 apps
  • User excitement about real-world crypto adoption
  • differences between decentralized crypto vs centralized digital fiat

What’s next

  • Support CBDC adoption in real life
  • Issuing platform NFTs to achieve discounts
  • Launching community loans to support small business startups
  • Expanding to support more public blockchains

Overall it was a great learning experience! We’re proud to be ready to support CBDCs as adoption emerges and have built one of the simplest crypto-commerce platforms out there.

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