Show HN: Kacet – a freelancer marketplace with crypto-native payments

kacet.com

20 points by wrux 2 hours ago

Hi HN,

I’m a co-founder building kacet, a new freelancing platform that connects freelancers and employers, with crypto as the core payment rail.

The problem I’m trying to solve is pretty familiar: existing platforms take high fees, are slow to pay out, and don’t work well for international teams. kacet is an experiment in building a simpler, more neutral marketplace where payments are borderless by default.

Some highlights:

• Crypto-native payments – fast, borderless payouts without banks, delays, or surprise freezes • Peer-to-peer contracts – clients and freelancers work directly, the platform doesn’t own the relationship Built for teams – multi-user organisations for agencies and startups out of the box • Low, transparent fees – simple pricing with no boosts, ads, or hidden take rates • No dark patterns – a calm UI focused on agreeing work and getting paid, not maximising engagement

Payments are handled by Solana smart contracts, with a React frontend (TanStack Start). We’re keeping the feature set small to validate the core workflow: post work → agree terms → get paid.

This is still early and very much a work in progress. I’d really appreciate feedback from people who have hired freelancers, worked as one, or built marketplaces before.

Site: https://kacet.com

Happy to answer any questions or go into more detail on the payment model, trust mechanics, or why I think this approach might (or might not) work.

mpeg - an hour ago

Good idea, but you're several years too late to the web3 market.

I know you're probably hoping for the non-crypto businesses to use it, but there's little incentive. The hiring company holds the cards when it comes to payments most of the time anyway – when you hire a remote worker, they often deliver 100% of the work before getting paid

Even in higher end contracts it's rare to find a company that is willing to pay a deposit.

jcattle - 2 hours ago

In German you'd probably pronounce your company KZ, short for Concentration Camp (Konzentrationslager).

Not ideal, but I guess internationally it's less of an issue :)

mhitza - 2 hours ago

I think your idea has potential, in some alternate universe, or crypto configuration (such as Monero).

From my point of view the problem is that most cryptocurrencies are used as speculation instruments, and there's a significant hoop to pay someone in crypto.

Building on top of Monero would alleviate some of those issues, while targeting an even smaller niche of people.

From a business perspective the landing page does not do any work in reassuring me. Focusing on fees rather than vetted freelancers, testimonials, and without any form of results "assurance", escrow system or dispute resolution why would any company take on the risk of hiring a freelancer this way while also gambling with all the issues crypto brings?

scirob - an hour ago

You should try to connect with someone from one of the previous attempts at a decentralized Upwork and understand why it didn’t work out for them. One example is this: https://docs.talentlayer.org/

faeyanpiraat - an hour ago

I had all kinds of problems with freelancing platforms, but payments were not one of them.

It’s always nice trying to build stuff but I really hope this is just a hobby project for you..