Over the past three decades, e-commerce has transformed the way we buy and sell. Platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba, eBay and Shopify, and the rise of the smartphone, brought global markets into the palm of our hands. They lowered barriers to entry for small businesses, gave consumers instant access to products worldwide and turned digital payments into the norm. But the very success of e-commerce has also created systemic problems: market concentration, data monopolies, exploitative fees, lack of transparency and, at times, fragile supply chains, as we saw during the global pandemic. As commerce becomes increasingly digital, the gap between the potential of a borderless internet economy and the reality of centralised, gatekeeper-controlled platforms has only widened. Enter decentralised commerce (d-commerce). Enabled by blockchain technology, digital assets and AI, d-commerce envisions a future where trade is not dominated by a handful of platforms but distributed across networks owned and governed by participants themselves. In this model, creators, merchants, logistics providers and consumers transact directly, with trust enforced by code and collective governance rather than reliance on intermediaries. This article explores why the shift from e-commerce to d-commerce is needed, the role frontier technologies play in enabling it, and the barriers still standing in its way.
The limits of e-commerce today
Centralisation has brought convenience but also fragility and inequity. Some of the key issues include:· platform gatekeepers - a few companies dominate global e-commerce, setting rules, taking significant margins and controlling visibility through algorithms. Sellers are dependent on platforms for reach, yet they lack bargaining power.
· data monopolies - platforms own consumer data, dictating how it is monetised and leaving both buyers and sellers with limited control. This creates asymmetry: platforms learn more about participants than participants ever learn about them.
· cross-border friction - despite global reach, e-commerce still struggles with payments, compliance and logistics across jurisdictions. Settlement is slow and costly, especially for small businesses.
· trust deficits - fake reviews, counterfeit goods and opaque supply chains erode trust. Consumers are forced to rely on the platform’s credibility rather than on transparent verification of products and sellers.
· exclusion of creators and micro-merchants - many smaller sellers and creators are excluded due to high fees, compliance burdens or lack of access to traditional payment rails.
In short, e-commerce has scaled its reach but failed to democratise opportunity. That’s where decentralised commerce may offer a new paradigm.
What is d-commerce?
D-commerce is the application of blockchain, distributed networks and autonomous systems to trade. Instead of transactions flowing through centralised platforms, they take place peer-to-peer on open protocols. Governance is participatory, ownership is distributed and value flows more directly between creators and consumers. Key features include protocols where buyers and sellers transact directly, governed by smart contracts rather than corporate policies. In this new world, the idea is that users will take back control, owning and controlling their digital identities and reputations across marketplaces. Digital assets and stablecoins will be the currency of d-commerce, enabling instant, low-cost settlement without intermediaries. Through tokens, participants can even co-own platforms, sharing in their growth through tokens or digital equity and, all the while, blockchains or distributed ledgers make product origins, certifications and logistics traceable in real-time. Instead of “renting access” from platforms, merchants and creators co-create value in ecosystems they also co-own.
How frontier tech enables this shift
Three frontier technologies are converging to make d-commerce viable at scale: blockchain, digital assets and AI. Blockchain enables a tamper-proof record of transactions. Smart contracts automate enforcement of rules - such as escrow, royalties or delivery verification - without relying on intermediaries. This infrastructure ensures transparency and resilience, while reducing the costs of trust. Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins enable instant cross-border settlement, eliminating the friction of correspondent banking and high fees from payment processors. Beyond payments, digital assets can represent fractional ownership, governance rights or loyalty tokens that align incentives between buyers and sellers. For example, a d-commerce marketplace might issue tokens to early adopters, rewarding them for driving growth. These tokens can confer voting rights, provide access to premium services or enable profit-sharing. Unlike e-commerce points systems that lock users into walled gardens, these tokens could be portable and tradable across networks. The third frontier tech is AI, which plays a critical role in creating usability and trust at scale.
Decentralised marketplaces generate massive amounts of unstructured data, product descriptions, logistics and reviews that need to be standardised and surfaced intelligently. AI can detect fraud and counterfeit listings in real time. It can provide personalised recommendations without hoarding centralised data. It might also automate compliance checks across jurisdictions. Users will also be able to use autonomous agents such as AI shoppers, negotiators or supply chain bots that can interact directly on-chain. Combined with blockchain, AI reduces the need for central gatekeepers while still delivering the intelligence and trust signals consumers expect.
Barriers to d-commerce
While the vision of d-commerce is compelling, the road to adoption involves some important challenges. Current blockchain interfaces (wallets, private keys or the need to pay gas fees) remain intimidating to many. For d-commerce to go mainstream, it must become as seamless as Amazon’s famous ‘one-click’ checkout. Blockchains are improving but throughput and cost constraints often still limit transaction volumes compared to centralised systems like Visa or Amazon Web Services. Different jurisdictions treat digital assets, tokens and decentralised governance inconsistently form a regulatory point of view too and many entrepreneurs fear building on such shifting sands. Existing platforms already command massive user bases, logistics networks and capital. Convincing consumers and merchants to switch requires significant incentive and clear value. Logistics, dispute resolution and consumer protections still need decentralised equivalents. Without them, adoption risks being confined to niche communities. Many also still equate blockchain with speculation or cryptocurrency scams. Educating users about how d-commerce works and why it’s likely to be more trustworthy than centralised systems is critical.
Why the transition still matters
Despite these barriers, the transition from e-commerce to d-commerce is both necessary and inevitable. When networks become too centralised, innovation slows down and opportunities shrink. D-commerce has the potential to empower creators and merchants by reducing fees and enabling true digital ownership. It will give consumers agency over their data, privacy and choices. It has the power to foster inclusivity by enabling global trade without reliance on legacy banking infrastructure, opening up new possibilities for the unbanked and the underbanked around the world. It will increase resilience by distributing control, reducing single points of failure and making supply chains more transparent - something that is become ever important to consumers interested in environmental credentials, workers’ rights or other ethical concerns. Just as e-commerce felt inevitable once the internet reached scale, so too will d-commerce feel inevitable as blockchain, digital assets, and AI mature. The shift won’t be overnight, but each step - wallets becoming simpler, supply chains going on-chain, AI agents transacting on behalf of users - brings the future closer. A recent report by analysts Edgar and Dunn claims that by 2030 (just 5 years away), AI agents will run the internet, and the value of agentic commerce will reach $1.7 trillion. Can we really see clunky, centralised systems surviving in the area of the agentic web?
The future is decentralised
E-commerce promised to democratise global trade, but the reality has been extractive platforms that consolidate power. D-commerce offers a chance to realign digital trade with the original ideals of the internet: openness, decentralisation and shared ownership. Organisations like Boson Protocol or India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce are leading tangible advancements in d-commerce today. Boson is working in the Web3/metaverse space and ONDC in a large-scale, real-world context. CheckoutDAO and other innovative projects, such as the cross-chain stablecoin CroCoDai, point to even broader possibilities ahead. The technologies are already here: blockchain for trust, digital assets for value transfer, AI for intelligence. The barriers are surmountable: better user interfaces, clearer regulations and more education. The question is not whether d-commerce will emerge, but how quickly we can build the infrastructure and cultural trust to make it mainstream. Commerce is too important to be owned by a handful of companies. Will the next chapter of global trade forge ahead with a different, more decentralised path?
This article first appeared in Digital Bytes (23rd of September, 2025), a weekly newsletter by Jonny Fry of Team Blockchain.