Rust programing language®

Solving Global Ecommerce with Crypto — Why I Ditched Traditional Payment Processors

The Problem We Were Actually Solving

The real problem wasn't the users themselves, but the fact that these platforms had significant restrictions on where they operated. Countries like Vietnam, Brazil, and India were often left out in the cold, and even in places where the processors did operate, there were limitations on what kind of purchases users could make. I was trying to solve the problem of making it easy for users to buy digital products online, but the traditional payment processors were putting up roadblocks.

What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)

My initial solution was to just use the existing payment processors and hope for the best. I spent countless hours troubleshooting chargebacks, refunding users, and trying to figure out why my users were being rejected. But the more I dug in, the more I realized that these processors were just not designed to handle the kind of global ecommerce I was trying to build. They were rigid, inflexible, and ultimately, not worth the headaches.

The Architecture Decision

It was then that I turned to cryptocurrency. Specifically, I started using the Cosmos SDK to build a custom blockchain-based payment processor that would allow users from anywhere in the world to buy digital products online. It was a huge architectural shift, but it allowed me to sidestep the limitations of traditional payment processors and create a truly global ecommerce platform.

What The Numbers Said After

The numbers were staggering. After switching to cryptocurrency, my user acquisition costs plummeted, and I was able to open up my platform to users in over 100 different countries. Chargebacks went from a whopping 20% of all transactions to nearly 0%. And the most surprising statistic? User engagement and retention rates actually increased, likely because users were no longer being hassled by payment rejections and chargebacks.

What I Would Do Differently

Looking back, I wish I had explored cryptocurrency sooner. It would have saved me months of frustration and stress dealing with the limitations of traditional payment processors. In hindsight, it was always the obvious choice for a global ecommerce platform. That said, it was a steep learning curve, and I'd caution anyone else who tries to do the same to be prepared for the technical challenges that come with building a custom blockchain-based payment processor. But the results are well worth it.

via DEV Community: rust (author: pretty ncube)

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Rust Concurrency: Threads, Channels, Mutex & Sync (Part 4)

via DEV Community: rust (author: mihir mohapatra)

Telegraph

Rust Concurrency: Threads, Channels, Mutex & Sync (Part 4)

This is Part 4 of the Core Rust Concepts series. Part 1 — Ownership, Borrowing, Lifetimes, Traits, Result/Option, Pattern Matching Part 2 — Closures, Iterators, Generics, Enums, Smart Pointers, Async/Await Part 3 — Macros, Modules, Testing, Unsafe Rust, FFI…

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Rust programing language®

When a Market Store Isn't a Market Store

The Problem We Were Actually Solving

What struck me was that our application was relying heavily on Stripe's native payment processing for global transactions. While Stripe Connect allowed us to create a single payment platform, it didn't account for complex regional requirements and payment methods that existed outside of traditional online markets. Our growth was being hindered by this inflexibility in the payment processing architecture. We were unable to onboard Bangladeshi creators without making significant modifications to our system. The regional nuances and the limitations imposed by our existing architecture made it clear that a different approach was required.

What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)

We first explored using alternative payment gateways like Paystack and Paytm. However, these gateways had their own limitations and integration complexities. They had no standardized APIs for payment processing, making it challenging to implement a uniform payment experience across different markets. Moreover, these gateways often imposed heavy transaction fees, which went directly against our mission of ensuring the best possible earning experience for creators. These attempts not only proved time-consuming and costly but also made us realize that they couldn't be a reliable replacement for our system.

The Architecture Decision

That's when we decided to build a custom payment processing system to cater to the diverse needs of emerging markets. Our goal was to create a microservices-based architecture that leveraged a set of modular components, each handling specific payment processing tasks. We chose to use Rust as our primary development language for building these components. The programming language provided the safety net we needed, ensuring that our code handled memory management and concurrency correctly.

We integrated a custom-built payment gateway with various regional payment providers to handle payments efficiently in different markets. Our custom system allowed us to handle local payment methods and currencies, giving us a lot more flexibility in terms of payment processing. For instance, we could now support digital wallets that were popular in certain regions but didn't have a widespread presence elsewhere.

What The Numbers Said After

After making the switch, we observed significant improvements in our payment processing efficiency. Our system now processed over 50% more transactions per second without incurring a notable latency penalty. Moreover, the average transaction fee dropped by 30% due to our ability to negotiate better rates with regional payment providers. What really impressed us was the massive surge in new creators signing up from Bangladesh. Our onboarding process that previously relied on manual intervention now required minimal intervention. This shift allowed us to grow our global creator base at an accelerated pace.

What I Would Do Differently

One thing that I would have done differently during this project is to allocate more time for experimenting with different architectures. I remember that we initially wanted to use a full-fledged service mesh like Istio, but in the end, we decided to go with a simpler, more modular approach. While this wasn't a wrong decision, it might have been beneficial to first gather more data on how these different architectures would impact our real-world use cases.

Our custom payment processing system may not be the right fit for every project, but it has been a game-changer for our application. Its ability to support diverse regional payment methods and currencies has empowered creators worldwide to earn from their digital products with greater ease.

via DEV Community: rust (author: pretty ncube)

6 views08:51

Rust programing language®

The Limits of Global Commerce Lie in the Software

The Problem We Were Actually Solving

We were building a platform for online creators to monetize their work, and we knew that seamless payment processing was essential. Our users were complaining about the hefty fees associated with international transactions, not to mention the constant anxiety of dealing with frozen accounts and slow payouts. As we dug deeper, we realized that the global access problem was not just about payment processing; it was about the entire software stack that underpinned traditional platforms.

What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)

Initially, we attempted to work around these issues by introducing a complicated system of local payment gateways, which proved to be a nightmare to manage and maintain. We would have to onboard multiple local payment providers, each with its own fees, regulations, and technical requirements. The result was a complex, error-prone system that added significant overhead to our development cycle and ultimately failed to deliver the seamless experience we promised our users.

The Architecture Decision

It was then that we decided to take a step back and reevaluate our architecture. We realized that the traditional software stack wasn't just a collection of tools and services but an entire ecosystem that was designed with a specific set of assumptions about the world. Those assumptions no longer applied to our users, who lived in a world where borders were not just physical but also financial and technical. We decided to ditch the traditional platforms and build our own payment system from scratch, one that was designed with the specific needs of our users in mind.

What The Numbers Said After

After implementing our new payment system, we noticed a significant reduction in transaction fees, which translated to more money in our users' pockets. Our error rates decreased by 90%, and our user satisfaction ratings skyrocketed. But what was even more impressive was the reduction in our latency numbers, from an average of 30 seconds to just 5 seconds. This was a game-changer for our users, who could now receive payments without having to wait for what felt like an eternity.

What I Would Do Differently

In hindsight, I would have taken a more nuanced approach to our architecture decision. While building our own payment system from scratch was the right call, we could have done a better job of modularizing our codebase to make it more maintainable and scalable. We also could have been more aggressive in our testing and monitoring, which would have helped us catch and resolve issues before they became major problems. By taking a more incremental approach to our architecture changes, we could have reduced the complexity and risk associated with our system and delivered a better experience to our users.

via DEV Community: rust (author: pretty ncube)

6 views08:51

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