Can Bitcoin Free Internet Commerce?
By Thibaud
Bitcoin was invented as a new form of money for the common man, without government interference.
Its potential to free internet commerce is clear: bitcoin is like cash for the internet, enabling direct peer-to-peer transactions across the world.
Yet most people still buy it today through regulated intermediaries that demand personal data, ID checks and face scans.
This contradiction raises an important question: Is that ultimately what bitcoin was built for?
While we may still be in the early stages of monetization, isn't there more to bitcoin than buying it to protect your wealth from inflation?
Like the internet, bitcoin can truly liberate global trade through new products we have yet to imagine, but mainstream narratives remain fixated on the "bitcoin is better savings" meme.
It's 2025, and despite all the great products launched over the last few years, bitcoin usage still has significant room for improvement.
Self-custody has not yet become the standard worldwide for bitcoin users, while most bitcoin entrepreneurs continue seeking regulatory approval to launch new businesses.
Companies impose increasingly stringent identification requirements on their customers, and internet marketplaces still settle payments in fiat currencies, carrying high credit and counterparty risks.
Looking back to 2013, we might ask ourselves: Was the Silk Road marketplace the peak of bitcoin adoption? Or was it at least a glimpse into what a world running on a bitcoin standard could potentially look like? What can we learn from this pivotal chapter in bitcoin's history?
Cypherpunks Going Mainstream
Over 10 years after Ross Ulbricht launched the Silk Road in 2011, bitcoin has appreciated more than 10,000x to over $2 trillion in value, with record global transaction volumes.
The industry has changed dramatically—individuals, corporations, and nation states are now adopting bitcoin as a superior savings technology.
Hashrate is hitting all-time highs while fiat currencies are hitting all-time lows in bitcoin terms.
Hundreds of bitcoin-only businesses now offer a wide array of services for buying, selling, saving, storing, borrowing, exchanging, earning, and securing bitcoin globally.
A built-in second-layer protocol, the Lightning Network, now enables instant and near-free global payments with no third parties.
But Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road, who was released from prison earlier this year, could potentially be signaling a new chapter in bitcoin's history.
This release might symbolize a broader narrative shift from bitcoin as an underground technology to a globally respected monetary network unlocking free market capitalism and cypherpunk ideals.
Ross was one of the earliest and most successful bitcoin entrepreneurs of all time, and he’s now free despite the widely popular and controversial trial surrounding the darknet marketplace.
One thing is clear today: institutions are adopting bitcoin, from public companies buying bitcoin to ETFs accumulating billions via regulated custodians and nation states legislating strategic bitcoin reserves.
But it need not become the default standard. Bitcoin remains, at its core, free and open-source software that anyone can build upon to create useful things for the world.
A 12-year old boy in Ethiopia or a large and regulated financial services firm from London can both build on bitcoin, without requiring anyone's permission, using nothing more than an internet connection and a computer while maintaining good privacy.
Back when the Silk Road was active, millions of users across the world used it to buy and sell a broad array of goods via a bitcoin-based escrow system.
While the marketplace gained notoriety for illegal drug sales, thousands of other legal items were also traded, complete with reviews and ratings.
Its real innovation was allowing anonymous strangers to conduct online commerce together without knowing each other at all—secured by bitcoin.
Back then, this was completely new: an entrepreneur could run an open marketplace for the world to trade freely and safely, without borders or discrimination.
Today, this is still poorly understood, but incredibly powerful.
Prior to bitcoin, the internet obviously enabled new companies to be built, such as Amazon, Airbnb, Twitter, Uber, and Google, to name a few.
While bitcoiners often criticize these tech giants for acquiescing to regulations and participating in crony capitalism, they undeniably created significant value by connecting billions of people in a purely capitalistic system of mutual assistance.
Now we face a critical question: What are the next products and companies enabled by bitcoin that could not have existed before and that will change our world for the better?
Today, robust infrastructure exists allowing anyone to build almost anything anonymously with minimal overhead, freeing up global markets in unprecedented ways.
Technologies like Tor, Bitcoin, Lightning, Linux, and Nostr enable businesses to launch worldwide operations on day one without bank accounts while still accepting payments. Most importantly, bitcoin enables money to move freely on internet marketplaces with no identification or discrimination, and securely without relying on trusted third parties.
Internet Money Is For Peers
Internet-native marketplaces are projected to boom to over $1+ trillion in the coming years, with growth potentially stimulated further by the bitcoin network.
Bitcoin applications can be programmed to protect both consumers and producers trading online, fixing a critical gap left by traditional payment companies that have intermediated transactions for the first 30 years of the internet while accumulating fees, paperwork, delays, and introducing risks of chargebacks and fraud.
With bitcoin, internet marketplaces can and will thrive in the next 30 years without fiat-related overheads, welcoming new customers from previously excluded countries.
Imagine launching a new marketplace in 30 minutes that is immediately open for global KYC-free payments with collaborative escrow services—this is already possible with bitcoin today.
At Peach, we understand bitcoin was built for people to trade KYC-free together directly, securely, and privately.
We refer to this as P2P trading, which works with fiat currencies like the Swiss Franc and the Euro, requiring no identification whatsoever.
The goal extends beyond reducing payment provider fees; it aims to connect new markets and participants previously constrained by fiat payment limitations and centralized platforms.
With bitcoin, we unlock commerce on the internet at a new scale.
While marketplaces traditionally require a reputation system, bitcoin-native marketplaces provide an alternative where reputation could become secondary.
When sellers secure their bitcoin in a collaborative escrow with the marketplace, the risks of rug pulls are nearly eliminated for both parties.
At Peach, buyers and sellers of bitcoin are protected by this collaborative escrow model, ensuring fiat payment reaches the seller before bitcoin is released to the buyer. Similar marketplaces now exist for buying, selling, borrowing, and lending bitcoin, as well as for renting properties or hiring talent.
The potential for bitcoin-native marketplaces appears limitless, promising to unlock entirely new forms of internet commerce.
Bitcoin Has a Long Ways to Go
Just as Airbnb transformed the seemingly impossible concept of staying in a stranger's home, bitcoin marketplaces now enable exchanging or lending money to complete strangers online without knowing their identities.
This may represent merely the beginning of what is possible with bitcoin financial services. We can probably do much more than this.
Due to bitcoin's nature, it is often misunderstood as a financial asset requiring extensive regulatory compliance.
Companies offering bitcoin-related services frequently must adhere to local and global regulations, which can be invasive.
At Peach, we strive to balance regulatory requirements with product experiences and customer safety.
That’s why Peach is focused on offering the best KYC-free marketplace to buy and sell bitcoin with no identification requirements.
We believe new marketplaces will show that platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Airbnb all had benefits and drawbacks, but were ultimately inferior to bitcoin-native platforms utilizing a neutral monetary network with 24/7 settlements.
From the early experiment of the Silk Road to new peer-to-peer marketplaces like Peach, bitcoin can change how we run internet businesses and marketplaces and goes way beyond a superior savings technology.
Bitcoin-native marketplaces are inevitable and will change how we do commerce on the internet and beyond. Amazon or eBay powered by bitcoin will look obvious in hindsight. The only question is: Who will build them?
February 24th, 2025