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Bisq

Bisq is a decentralized bitcoin exchange. It is a desktop application that aims at providing a secure, private, and censorship-resistant way of exchanging bitcoin for national currencies and other cryptocurrencies over the internet.

Difficulty: Easy

Requirements

Introduction

The guide will show you how to:

  1. Configure BTC Core allowing Bisq to run its SPV wallet

  2. Install Bisq on your personal computer

  3. Connect Bisq to your Bitcoin Core own node in your local network or via remote Tor and depending on your OS personal computer

  4. Securely set up Bisq

Preparations

Configure Bitcoin Core

  • To connect Bisq from your personal computer in your local network, with the user admin, comment, or delete the bind=127.0.0.1 line of the bitcoin.conf file. Save and exit

$ sudo nano /data/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
#bind=127.0.0.1

  • Add peerbloomfilters=1 to activate bloom filters and whitelist our P2P connection

# Support filtering of blocks and transactions with bloom filters
peerbloomfilters=1

# Whitelist our Wireguard VPN & local network P2P connection
[email protected]/16
[email protected]/16

Obtain your Bitcoin Core onion address

  • With the admin or bitcoin user, run the following command and make a copy of the .onion address and port (e.g. here, 123...abc.onion:8333)

$ bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo | grep address.*onion

Example of expected output:

> "address": "123...abc.onion:8333"

Configure Firewall

  • Configure the firewall to allow incoming requests to Bitcoin Core from anywhere

$ sudo ufw allow 8333/tcp comment 'allow Bitcoin Core from anywhere'

Installation

  • Download Bisq on your personal computer using the appropriate binary for your OS

  • Verify the downloaded binary following Bisq guidelines

  • Once you've verified the integrity of the downloaded Bisq binary, install it on your personal computer but do NOT launch Bisq yet!

Connect Bisq to your node

For Linux and MacOS, we will start Bisq for the first time using the command line to force it to connect to your Bitcoin node only.

On your personal computer where you installed Bisq, depending on your OS

For Linux:

  • Open a command line terminal, we will start Bisq with two flags that will force it to connect to our node only. Bisq should connect to your node on the startup

From the local network connection, replace 192.168.X.X:8333 it with your node IP address.

$ /opt/bisq/bin/Bisq -btcNodes=192.168.X.X:8333 -useTorForBtc=false

From the remote connection, replace 123...abc.onion:8333 with your own Bitcoin Core .onion address that you obtained above

$ /opt/bisq/bin/Bisq -btcNodes=123...abc.onion:8333 -useTorForBtc=true

  • Wait a few minutes until Bisq is up to date with the current state of the blockchain and go back to "Settings" > "Network info" to check that only your own node local IP address or onion address is listed in the first table

  • Check that the "Bitcoin network peers" counter at the bottom right of the window is equal to 1

For MacOS:

  • Open a command line terminal, we will start Bisq with two flags that will force it to connect to our own node only

  • From the local network connection, replace 192.168.X.X:8333 with your own node IP address

$ Bisq -btcNodes=192.168.X.X:8333 -useTorForBtc=false

  • From the remote connection, replace 123...abc.onion:8333 with your own Bitcoin Core .onion address that you obtained above

$ Bisq -btcNodes=123...abc.onion:8333 -useTorForBtc=true

  • Wait a few minutes until Bisq is up to date with the current state of the blockchain and go back to "Settings" > "Network info" to check that only your own node local IP address or onion address is listed in the first table

  • Check that the "Bitcoin network peers" counter at the bottom right of the window is equal to 1

For Windows, Bisq is automatically opened using the GUI, we can't start Bisq the first time using the command line to force it to connect to your Bitcoin node only, so it will connect to several remote Bitcoin nodes via Tor, don't worry, we are going to change fastly this configuration:

  • Start Bisq using the GUI icon

  • Click on the "Settings" > "Network info" tab

  • In the "Bitcoin Network" section, click on "Use custom Bitcoin Core nodes"

  • In the box just below, paste your node IP address (192.168.X.X) or Bitcoin Core node .onion address (e.g: 123...abc.onion:8333) that you obtained above, depending if you are connecting locally or remotely via Tor

  • Check/uncheck "Use Tor for Bitcoin network" under Settings > Network, depending if you are connecting locally or remotely via Tor

  • Click on any other tab at the top. Bisq will ask you to shutdown the program to make your change effective

  • Click "Shutdown"

  • Start Bisq again using the GUI icon

  • Wait a few minutes until Bisq is up to date with the current state of the blockchain and go back to "Settings" > "Network info" to check that only your own node local IP address or onion address is listed in the first table

  • Check that the "Bitcoin network peers" counter at the bottom right of the window is equal to 1

Congrats! Bisq is now connected to your node

Configuration

This section will highlight key configuration options focusing on privacy and security only.

For the national currency account and trading configuration options, please refer to the Bisq website and wiki

Bitcoin Explorer

  • Click on "Settings" > "Preferences"

  • Click on the three dots in the "Bitcoin Explorer" section

  • Use the following information:

    • Name: Choose a name (e.g., MiniBolt)

    • Transaction URL: https://minibolt.local:4000/tx/ (replace minibolt.local with your node IP address if required)

    • Address URL: https://minibolt.local:4000/address/ (replace minibolt.local with your node IP address if required)

  • Click "Save"

Wallet seed

  • Click on the "Account" tab

  • Click on "Wallet seed"

  • Read the pop-up message carefully. Once read, click on "I understand"

  • Read carefully the new warning window that appears and click on "Yes and don't ask me again'

  • Carefully copy the seed words and wallet date on a paper backup (NOT on any computer)

  • Read the "Information" section to understand the importance of the seed words and wallet date

Backup

  • Still in the "Account" tab, now click on "Backup"

  • Click on "Select a backup location" and select a folder where your Bisq data will be backed-up

  • Click on "Backup now (backup is not encrypted)"

Wallet password

  • Still in the "Account" tab, click on "Wallet password"

  • Set a strong unique password (e.g., using your password manager) and click on "Set password"

  • In the pop-up window that just appeared, read the information and then click on "Set password, I already made a backup". Once done, close the confirmation window

Congrats! You're now ready to start buying and selling Bitcoin on Bisq securely and privately

Upgrade

Bisq will let you know when a new update is available. Simply follow the instructions on their announcement to download, verify, and install the update.

Uninstall

Uninstall FW configuration

  • Delete the firewall rules with the comment 'allow BTC Core from anywhere' identifying the number of the rule

$ sudo ufw status numbered
[X] 8333                   ALLOW IN    Anywhere   # allow BTC Core from anywhere

  • Delete the rule with the correct number and confirm with "yes"

$ sudo ufw delete X
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