Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡)

Building tiny internet projects. Founder of @promptbase and @zonelessdev. Once bought 300 emoji domains from Kazakhstan.

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

First post in 4 years

I’ve been busy bootstrapping PromptBase to 450k+ users

But I was burning $9,400/mo in opaque Stripe fees for seller payouts

So today I’m launching Zoneless: an open-source clone of Stripe Connect using USDC

Identical API, except payouts cost $0.002

I’ve been dogfooding it on PromptBase for 3 months:

- 2,200+ sellers onboarded
- 1,400+ payouts completed
- $9.4k/mo in Stripe fees → ~$5/mo
- 73% of sellers chose Zoneless over Stripe

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

Woke up to 100+ stars on the repo, thank you for the support! ⭐️

I've never built open-source before, so this is all pretty new

Back to building now 🫡

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

First post in 4 years

I’ve been busy bootstrapping PromptBase to 450k+ users

But I was burning $9,400/mo in opaque Stripe fees for seller payouts

So today I’m launching Zoneless: an open-source clone of Stripe Connect using USDC

Identical API, except payouts cost $0.002

I’ve been dogfooding it on PromptBase for 3 months:

- 2,200+ sellers onboarded
- 1,400+ payouts completed
- $9.4k/mo in Stripe fees → ~$5/mo
- 73% of sellers chose Zoneless over Stripe

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@EnchantedRobot thanks Robert!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

First post in 4 years

I’ve been busy bootstrapping PromptBase to 450k+ users

But I was burning $9,400/mo in opaque Stripe fees for seller payouts

So today I’m launching Zoneless: an open-source clone of Stripe Connect using USDC

Identical API, except payouts cost $0.002

I’ve been dogfooding it on PromptBase for 3 months:

- 2,200+ sellers onboarded
- 1,400+ payouts completed
- $9.4k/mo in Stripe fees → ~$5/mo
- 73% of sellers chose Zoneless over Stripe

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@tommyjmarshall 💙

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@therook_ @promptbase mainly through great timing with the AI boom, SEO, and a few reddit hacks.

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@Kyriakos_Pelek 💙

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@theOmkarBirje yes, bit of a hiatus from posting!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@bdlowery It was a surprising result! We are an AI marketplace so probably a big crossover AI x crypto users, but the main incentive was that sellers can get their sale funds faster - which is a big motivator to push through & use it.

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@deifosv No, it operates entirely on Solana / USDC as a replacement for Stripe Connect payouts.

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@ryanseanbadger Thanks Ryan! PromptBase might be a bit skewed as AI x Crypto has some crossover, but we've definitely found that sellers have a big interest in using it and will push through if it means faster access to funds + payouts.

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@rich_low Good to be back, Rich!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@ybouane Thanks for the feedback Yassine, I 100% agree on the pay-in side its going to be a while before cards are not the #1 choice. Zoneless is just for the payout-side currently - you can definitely use it alongside Stripe! (we do this on PB)

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@Dave_Geoghegan_ thanks David!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@_ndianabasi thank you!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@steventey thanks steven!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@ZippyTyro Thanks!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@ahogan Thank you Andrew!

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

Check it out here 👇

Website + docs: https://t.co/MI5zhkuLsi
Github: https://t.co/1GDoqqsv6G

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@levelsio Got hit by 1.5k fraudulent transactions from 'jake minas' in PH early May - was super scary especially with the threat of dispute fees.

Have been blocking PH using Radar for the past month + other mitigations.

Tip: Stripe will refund the attack transaction fees if you email

[Ben Stokes (Tiny Projects 💡) @tinyprojectsdev]

@brightoniant Been very busy! All good & exciting though - planning to start writing again soon!