Bisq v1.5.0 was just released, and it’s quite a notable update.
SegWit Integration Completed
Bisq v1.4.2 introduced segwit addresses for funding and withdrawing, meaning you could send funds from an external wallet to a bech32 address in Bisq and withdraw funds from Bisq to an external bech32 address. While this was a huge step forward, trade transactions didn’t use segwit, and no Bisq transactions took advantage of fee optimizations enabled by segwit.
Bisq v1.5.0 completes the integration by implementing segwit across the trade protocol and implementing segwit fee optimizations, saving users on fees for every trade tx and withdrawal tx.
Special Thanks to…You?
Segwit integration was a considerable, expensive project to spec, implement, review, and test. It was only possible because of a generous donor that Bisq was able to recruit high-quality help to deliver the implementation.
The donor prefers to remain anonymous, but we mention them here to draw attention to what’s possible with the generosity of the community.
While Bisq’s colored-bitcoin DAO intends to make Bisq sustainable in the long-term through trading fee revenue, revenue isn’t super-high right now, so Bisq is limited in what it can build in the short-term. External contributions enable the project to do even more—and as you see with segwit, the project will do its utmost to make the most of any extra funds it gets.
So if there’s something you’d really like to see in Bisq, if there’s a chance you can fund it, please reach out to us on Keybase and let’s make it happen!
Trading Improvements
There were a handful of notable updates to improve the trading experience on Bisq.
Relaxed and Simplified Trade Limits
For a long time, new fiat payment accounts in Bisq required 30-60 days to accrue higher trading limits. If you created a US Postal Money Order account in Bisq, for example, it would only be capable of trading 0.0625 BTC for the first 30 days, which would then increase to 0.125 BTC for the next 30 days. Trading 0.25 BTC would only become possible 60 days after the payment account was set up in Bisq.
For lower-risk payment methods, these limits are now gone. You can now trade 0.25, 0.50, or even 1.00 BTC from day 1 (depending on the particular payment method) for payment accounts that do not require signing (e.g., US Postal Money Order, cash deposit, Western Union, MoneyGram, face-to-face, and more). See this wiki article for the full list of supported payment methods and their maximum trade sizes.
For higher-risk payment methods, selling limits are also removed. Sellers using payment accounts such as SEPA, Zelle, Revolut, bank transfer can immediately sell up to 0.25 BTC.
Buying with higher-risk accounts remains the same as before—account signing is still in place, which means new high-risk accounts like SEPA and Zelle are limited to buying 0.01 BTC until 30 days after they are signed. Unfortunately, it needs to be this way to protect the network from fraudsters.
See this wiki article for more details and concrete details on how the newer, simpler trade size limits work.
New Payment Methods
TransferWise was added as a payment method so that users could harness the company’s multi-currency money transfer service to enable cross-currency trading on Bisq. Maximum trade period is 1 day, and maximum trade size is 0.25 BTC.
Amazon eGift Cards were added as a way to transfer value in a number of markets around the world in exchange for bitcoin. Maximum trade period is 1 day, and maximum trade size is 0.25 BTC.
Australian PayID was added to enable our friends down under to settle trades of up to 1 BTC in under 1 day. Maximum trade period is 1 day, and maximum trade size is 1.00 BTC.
Account signing is not currently required for any of these payment methods, so take advantage of it! Buyers and sellers can trade the full amount immediately.
Edit Payment Methods of Live Offers
Before v1.5.0, traders could edit the price of a live offer, but not the payment method. Now, the offer’s payment method can be changed too.
So if you make an offer for buying bitcoin with Zelle, but decide you want to try the new Amazon eGift card method, you can just switch the payment method without wasting any sats to make a whole new offer.
More
As always, there are many smaller updates listed in the changelog.
Installing and Upgrading
To get Bisq for the first time, you can download it from the website or from GitHub. We highly recommend verifying the binaries you download using this guide.
To update Bisq, you should get a pop-up in the software when you open it. Otherwise, feel free to download it from the links above.
As always, please make sure to back up your data directory before updating. You can safely update with open offers, open trades, and/or open disputes.