Curse of the void gobbled it up:
Nopy started as a side project in June 2017, with the goal of creating a sustainable, ad free, privacy focused, full speed file hosting service. Despite some issues here and there, we're incredibly proud to say that we were successful for these past 4 years. We never imagined this weekend project would grow to serve 10s of millions of files and over 15 petabytes of bandwidth every month. Even more astounding is the level of support nopy received from the userbase, fueling our growth and allowing us to maintain a high level 100% community driven service.
However, unfortunately we are now no longer able to continue operating, due to issues with payment processors. We use Patreon and Buymeacoffee for collecting donations, who in turn use Paypal, Stripe, and Payoneer for payouts. Stripe payouts are only available in a limited number of countries. Our PayPal account was abruptly banned last year with no explanation or option to appeal. Finally, we started having issues with Payoneer 3 months ago, with severe delays in reissuing an expired debit card, and suddenly a couple of weeks ago they completely blocked our account, again with no explanation other than "it's under review", and no further response.
This means, as of now, we have lost all ability to receive payouts from our fundraising platforms, so are unable to continue paying the $6000 server bills. We've looked at other options like other crowdfunding platforms (the majority use Stripe/Paypal/Payoneer), accepting credit card donations directly (ideally need a legal entity in US/EU for VISA/MasterCard), crypto (not widespread enough/sustainable), registering as an LLC in US or EU (having to deal with sales tax/VAT/international tax law/IRS/etc), and ultimately we've come to the conclusion that there is no realistically viable alternative at the moment. Nor do we want to sell or transfer ownership of nopy just to have it plastered in ads, completely undermining the very reason why nopy was created in the first place.
It's impossible for us to put into words how disappointed we are that nopy has come to an end, especially as it is due to third party payment processors, rather than issues with the service itself or a lack of support from our userbase. We will pause the Patreon campaign, and keep the code, database, and files backed up. If we are able to make a come back in the future, then we certainly will. Those with accounts are still able to login and delete files from the backup if you so wish. The code is unlikely to be open sourced, as things would need to be tidied up quite a bit, but we'll see.
We'd like to give a massive thanks to all the fantastic people who supported nopy throughout the years, nopy wouldn't have lasted more than 6 months without your generosity. Additionally, a final thanks to those who offered their help, expertise, advice and support out of the kindness of their hearts (especially PixelRepublic, Ryahn, and jimmy).
