OpenBazaar has released its beta 3.0 software. Among other enhancements, the latest version is also compatible with Windows; earlier versions only worked on Linux and OSX.

OpenBazaar is a p2p e-commerce platform that doesn’t involve any central servers. The software, along with a database of the marketplace, is downloaded to your computer. Bitcoin serves as the p2p currency.

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The release is nicknamed “Tabriz”, named after a market in Iran which is one of the oldest bazaars in the Middle East.

The release saw significant contributions from the community, with over 350 commits and merging more than 70 pull requests.

One of the improvements is the replacement of the sign-and-encrypt security scheme with sign-then-encrypt, which will ensure better sender anonymity.

Despite the enhancements, the project’s leaders are warning users not to assume it’s at the point capable of offering complete privacy and anonymity.

It is also unsafe to use our software at this time for anything requiring critical privacy or anonymity. It is early beta software.

— OpenBazaar (@openbazaar) November 6, 2014

In light of the recent dark net crackdown, the team also distances themselves from any illegal activity which their software may be used to facilitate:

With today’s news we want to remind anyone using OpenBazaar that we don’t condone illegal activity.

— OpenBazaar (@openbazaar) November 6, 2014

While it is a foregone conclusion that the marketplace will be used for such, the software is not the same as a dark net marketplace and does not actively broker the sale of goods.