Bisq 1

On this page

• Bisq
• Why?
• Using Bisq
• Contributing
• Network activity and stats
• Community

Legacy portal layout adapted into sequential sections and lists. The introduction and reasons sections are rendered from recovered historical templates.

Bisq

Bisq logo
Historical full-size recovered source. Provenance catalogue.

Bisq is a decentralized bitcoin exchange network that enables secure, private and censorship-resistant exchange of bitcoin for national currencies and other cryptocurrencies over the internet.

The Bisq application forms a peer-to-peer network by discovering, connecting to, and working with one another to implement the Bisq trading protocol. The Bisq network is fully peer-to-peer in that it requires no centrally-controlled servers and has no single points of failure.

See more details in the introduction.

Historical template from the 14 October 2026 archive · source

Why?

Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin to solve the problems of centralized payment systems, so it seems inconsistent for corporate, centralized bitcoin exchanges to be the primary way to acquire bitcoin. It often seems the dominance and vulnerability of centralized exchanges is the Achilles heel in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Bisq is built on pure P2P infrastructure: desktop software, Tor, local wallets, and no central accounts. Furthermore, it is not a company, and its governance model actually incentivizes the protection of user privacy and freedoms.

While the transfer of national currency requires traditional payment channels like banks and payment processors, Bisq is not dependent on any particular provider. The role of these payment channels is limited to what it should be: transferring national currency. That's it—no censoring, confiscating, monitoring, or controlling your financial transactions.

Bisq is built for those who:

• Want to exchange a national currency such as dollars, euros, or yen for bitcoin.
• Want to exchange a wide range of alternative cryptocurrencies for bitcoin.
• Do not want to trust any entity to hold their funds.
• Do not want to forfeit control or privacy to a central authority in order to trade with other individuals.
• Regard financial transactions as a form of private speech that should be protected from surveillance by banks, governments, and other institutions.

Historical template from the 14 October 2026 archive · source

Using Bisq

• Introduction — what Bisq is and why
• Getting started — complete your first trade in minutes
• Downloading and installing — or build it yourself
• Backing up critical data — seed words and data directory
• Take a tour — get acquainted with the interface
• Payment methods — supported payment methods and limitations
• Trading fees — competitive rates for unparalleled privacy
• Dispute resolution — what happens when a trade doesn't go smoothly
• Support — where to go when you need support
• Installing your own Bitcoin node — take the next step in Bitcoin self sovereignty
• Troubleshooting — solutions to known issues
• Tips and Tricks — how to get the most out of Bisq (performance + privacy [unresolved link: Privacy Tips])

Contributing

• Contributor checklist — see how we think, work, and collaborate
• GitHub — all the code
• Current projects — see what we're up to right now

Network activity and stats

• Overview — trading volume, BSQ issuance, other activity
• Trading activity — all the numbers, in detail
• Network monitor — P2P network activity, Tor metrics, other data
• Release stats — download numbers by release

Community

• Matrix — where everyone hangs out and collaborates
• Nostr and Twitter — user-facing announcements and news
• Blog — longer-form updates and perspectives
• YouTube — calls, how-tos, interviews, and more
• Forum — ask questions, post opinions
• Reddit — mingle with other redditors who use Bisq

Original legacy portal layout source

<!--        left panels        -->
{| id="mp-upper" style="width: 100%; margin:6px 0 0 0; background:none; border-spacing: 0px;"
| class="MainPageBG" style="width:55%; border:1px solid #fff; background:#fff; vertical-align:top; color:#000;" |
{| id="mp-left" style="vertical-align:top; background:#fff;"
! style="padding:2px;" | <h2 id="mp-tfa-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#f7f7f7; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #fff; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Bisq</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;" | <div id="mp-tfa" style="padding:10px 5px">{{MainPage_Intro}}</div>
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-dyk-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#f7f7f7; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #fff; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Why?</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-dyk" style="padding:10px 5px">{{MainPage_Reasons}}</div>
|}
| style="border:1px solid transparent;" |

<!--        right panels       -->

| class="MainPageBG" style="width:45%; border:1px solid #fff; background:#fff; vertical-align:top;"|
{| id="mp-right" style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#fff;"
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:rgba(37, 177, 53, 0.15); font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #fff; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Using Bisq</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">
{|cellpadding="2" style="background-color: inherit;"
|-
* '''[[Introduction]]''' — what Bisq is and why
* '''[https://bisq.network/getting-started Getting started]''' — complete your first trade in minutes
* '''[[Downloading and installing]]''' — or [https://github.com/bisq-network/bisq/blob/master/docs/build.md build it yourself]
* '''Backing up critical data''' — [[Backing_up_your_wallet_seed|seed words]] and [[Backing_up_application_data|data directory]]
* '''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDkzUl9wibc Take a tour]''' — get acquainted with the interface
* '''[[Payment methods]]''' — supported payment methods and limitations
* '''[[Trading fees]]''' — competitive rates for unparalleled privacy
* '''[[Dispute resolution]]''' — what happens when a trade doesn't go smoothly
* '''[[Support]]''' — where to go when you need support
* '''[[Installing your own Bitcoin node]]''' — take the next step in Bitcoin self sovereignty
* '''[[Troubleshooting]]''' — solutions to known issues
* '''Tips and Tricks''' — how to get the most out of Bisq ([[Performance_Tips|performance]] + [[Privacy_Tips|privacy]])
<!-- * '''[[Decentralized autonomous organization]]''' — how Bisq is governed and funded -->

</div>
|}
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:rgba(37, 177, 53, 0.15); font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #fff; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Contributing</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">
{|cellpadding="2" style="background-color: inherit;"
|-
* '''[[Contributor_checklist|Contributor checklist]]''' — see how we think, work, and collaborate
* '''[https://github.com/bisq-network GitHub]''' — all the code
* '''[https://github.com/orgs/bisq-network/projects/3 Current projects]''' — see what we're up to right now
</div>
|}
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:rgba(37, 177, 53, 0.15); font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #fff; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Network activity and stats</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">
{|cellpadding="2" style="background-color: inherit;"
|-
* '''[https://bisq.network/stats Overview]''' — trading volume, BSQ issuance, other activity
* '''[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o-I5fAx7DJRVqYjW8fPbo0ztlGIhIZ1EM2iLc5aEHnA Trading activity]''' — all the numbers, in detail
* '''[https://monitor.bisq.network Network monitor]''' — P2P network activity, Tor metrics, other data
* '''[https://bisq.network/release-stats Release stats]''' — download numbers by release
</div>
|}
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:rgba(37, 177, 53, 0.15); font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #fff; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Community</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">
{|cellpadding="2" style="background-color: inherit;"
|-
* '''[https://bisq.chat Matrix]''' — where everyone hangs out and collaborates
* '''[https://primal.net/bisq Nostr]''' and '''[https://twitter.com/bisq_network/ Twitter]''' — user-facing announcements and news
* '''[https://bisq.network/blog Blog]''' — longer-form updates and perspectives
* '''[https://youtube.com/c/bisq-network YouTube]''' — calls, how-tos, interviews, and more
* '''[https://bisq.community Forum]''' — ask questions, post opinions
* '''[https://reddit.com/r/bisq Reddit]''' — mingle with other redditors who use Bisq
</div>
|}
|}

</noinclude>__NOTOC____NOEDITSECTION__<!-- BISQ VERSION: bisq1 -->