New version 0.5.0 released!

This release comes with tons of changes and improvements.
Please download at: https://bisq.io/downloads

Most relevant changes are:

  • Support for other base currencies (next to Bitcoin we support now Litecoin and Doge. Dash will come soon as well)
  • Using a fee estimation service for setting the optimal transaction fees to avoid stuck transactions in times of high blockchain congestion
  • Support for custom security deposit
  • Multi language support. Currently: English (default), German, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Serbian
  • Dynamic trading fees (depends on trade amount and distance to market price)
  • Many technical improvements like more compact trade protocol, usage of Protobuffer, BIP 44 wallet,…

Please see the full release notes below.

As that release has very profound changes it is NOT backward compatible to the earlier versions.
It uses a new network which is separated from the current trade network. So your offers from the current application will not be visible for users who are using the new version.
If you want to migrate to the new version you need to close your offers and withdraw your funds to the new application. You can run both applications in parallel as they are using a different data directory.
You cannot move over the wallet or application data because the wallet format has changed (BIP44) and we use a different data structure for the data base files. So you need to transfer the Bitcoin with a BTC transaction and set up your payment account(s) manually.

Please double check with cmd+e in the old application if no funds are left over (some bugs might have caused that the balance displayed in the UI is not correct).

Please use small amounts when starting trading in the new application as with so many changes there are some risks for bugs (though it is thoroughly tested).

Release notes:

  • Support multiple base currencies. Beside BTC the user can choose to use LTC or DOGE as base market. More will come in future releases.
  • Use fee estimation service form https://bitcoinfees.21.co to use dynamic mining fees.
  • Use dynamic trading fees. Trading fees are based on trade amount and distance to market price.
    Min. fee (MF) = 0.0002 BTC, default fee (DF) = 0.002 BTC, amount factor (AF) = 1/BTC, market price factor (MF) = square root of percent value (e.g. 1% -> 1, 9% 0 -> 3, 0.01% -> 0.1).
    Tradeing fee = max(MF, DF * amount * AF * MF). E.g. 0.002 BTC for 1 BTC trade at 1% market price distance.
  • Make security deposit for buyer customizable at offer creation (allowed range: 0.001 BTC - 0.2 BTC)
  • Use fixed security deposit for seller (0.01 BTC)
  • Simplify trade process by removing locktime support (removed finalize payout step)
  • Use protobuffer instead of Java serialization in P2P network and local persistence
  • Use BIP 44 wallet for BTC and BSQ
  • Update to BitcoinJ 0.14.1 release
  • Updated tor binaries from TorBrowser 6.5
  • Re-brand to Bisq
  • Use new max. trade limits to reduce risks with possible bugs in new version as well as to reflect higher BTC price
    Bank transfers: 0.5 BTC
    Swish, OKPay, PerfectMoney, AliPay: 1 BTC
    Altcoins 1 BTC (exception SiaFund as their price is about 3 BCT and it is not dividable)
  • Add email field to bank payment methods for enabling traders to verify identity (to protect against charge back risk)
  • Change max trade period for SEPA to 6 days. In exceptional situations like at long bank holidays exceeding the period will be tolerated.
  • Auto select also non-EURO SEPA countries by default at SEPA account setup
  • Added new altcoins: Janus, OctoCoin, PEPECASH
  • Use percentage based price as default. Swap input text controls when toggle between fixed price and percentage based price.
    Hide percentage based inputs if no market price is available.
  • Support for translations of all application display strings
  • User can select preferred language (of those which are already translated) and default country.
  • Supported new languages: German, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Serbian (still require UI layout adjustments)
  • Remove ask and bid market price and use always last price.
  • Add button in settings to resync SPV chain (delete SPV chain file)
  • Add button for opening log file
  • Remove arbitrator as potential receiver at dispute payout
  • Improve arbitration payout screen
  • Use TTL of 30 min. for market prices on the provider side.
  • Check for market price age on client. Allow max. 30 min old market prices
  • Show provider node at tooltip over price feed provider icon
  • Persist last used payment account for create offer screen
  • Use same seed words for both BTC and BSQ wallet
  • Added BSQ as coin_type 142 0x8000008E to https://github.com/satoshilabs/slips/blob/master/slip-0044.md
  • Update Bitcoin checkpoint file
  • Fix bug with backup path when path had become inaccessible
  • Fixed bug with not displaying correct MultiSig address in LockedFunds view.
  • Add checks for locked up funds of failed trades.
  • Add shortcut to remove failed trade from pending trades view.
  • Use for Windows build no version nr at jar files to avoid collecting multiple jars at updates.
  • Prepare the split role of arbitrator in mediator (has no MultiSig key) and arbitrator (3rd key holder of MultiSig).
    Not implemented yet in the UI, so mediator is at the moment identical with arbitrator.
  • Add email and pgp pubkey to data structure (no support yet implemented in UI)
  • Add support for passing counter currency tx ID to BTC seller (not impl. in UI yet)
  • Change key combination for open dispute from cmd+o to alt+o and for opening emergency wallet from cmd+e to alt+e
  • Update TAC
  • Don’t provide market price for Venezuelan currency (VEF) as official exchange rate is not reflecting reality
  • Add -BjvmOptions=-Xss1280k for Linux builds to avoid SegFault problem with latest Ubuntu update
7 Likes

Congratulations! What a step forward!

About base currency: Is is possible to change the base currency, or run two base currencies in parallell on the same installation?

1 Like

Yes you can change the base currency in the settings and use the same app. It requires a restart if you change. The data are completely separated (btc_mainnet or ltc_mainnet sub directories in the Bisq app directory).
If you want to use 2 different instances you need to pass a program argument: --appName=Bisq_1 (or what ever), that way you can 2 instances in parallet (and trade BTC-LTC and LTC-BTC ;-))

Ok, I didn’t find it at first. Placing the Base Currency selection under Network does not seem intuitive. It is such an important parameters that I would expect to find it at the very top under Preferences.

1 Like

Great job Manfred :slight_smile:

Right, will consider to move it so its easier to find