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This wiki provides documentation for Bison Wallet and DCRDEX users and developers.
For a step-by-step guide of the download, installation and configuration of Bison Wallet, see the Getting Started section.
If you're a developer and interested in contributing, jump to the Development and Contributing section.
Bison Wallet is a multi-coin wallet developed in concert with DCRDEX and Tatanka Mesh. Bison Wallet leverages state-of-the-art blockchain technology to bring more features and more privacy for your favorite assets. DCRDEX is built-in and has advanced trading features like market-making and arbitrage with funds directly from your wallet.
Our goal is to find a balance of convenience and privacy that works for you, while giving you access to advanced features most wallets ignore. For many assets, we can cut out the middleman altogether and allow you to interact directly with the blockchain network. This type of wallet is highly-resilient to data collection and censorship.
We also focus on bringing advanced, asset-specific features for our wallets. With Decred, you can use decentralized StakeShuffle mixing to further anonymize your funds, or stake your DCR and earn some block rewards. The Zcash wallet exposes unified addresses and shielded pools, and operates on a shielded-first principle that makes privacy effortless.
The Decred Decentralized Exchange (DEX) is a system that enables trustless exchange of different types of blockchain assets via a familiar market-based API. DEX is a non-custodial solution for cross-chain exchange based on atomic swap technology. DEX matches trading parties and facilitates price discovery and the communication of swap details.
Some key features of the protocol are:
- Fees - No trading fees are collected and there is no superfluous token or blockchain that is used to monetize the project.
- Fair – orders are matched pseudorandomly within epochs to substantially reduce manipulative, abusive trading practices by high frequency trading that uses first-in-first-out matching.
- Secure – Server operators never take custody of client funds. Non-custodial exchange is accomplished using cross-chain atomic swaps.
- Permissionless – The simple client-server architecture makes it easy to set up new servers and clients and enhances censorship resistance.
- No gatekeepers – Projects can add support for their assets and run servers with the markets they require.
- Verifiable volume – volume and trade data can be externally verified against the corresponding blockchains and the atomic swaps that occur on-chain, preventing wash trading.
- Private – Know your customer (KYC) information is not required.
- Transparent – By performing exchanges on-chain and using cryptographic attestation, both clients and servers can be held accountable for malicious behavior.
If you're new to Bison Wallet and DCRDEX, here are some important things to know before you get started.
Protect your seed
Your application seed is the master key to your native wallets and DCRDEX accounts. Back it up, store it somewhere safe, and never share it with anyone. If you lose your seed, you permanently lose access to your wallets and funds. See the Backup Application Seed section for more details.
Do not use the same seed in two places
Never use a wallet created from the same seed in two places. Doing so can cause transaction conflicts, missed swaps, and loss of funds.
Keep Bison Wallet running during trades
Trades settle via on-chain atomic swaps and require your wallet to be online to complete. Settlement can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. Do not shut down Bison Wallet or disconnect your wallets while you have active trades.
Be careful with market orders on low-volume markets
Market orders match against whatever is available on the order book. On a thin book, this can result in significant slippage. Bison Wallet will warn you when estimated slippage is high and require acknowledgment before proceeding, but it is still good practice to check the order book depth before placing a large market order.
Bonds and reputation
To trade on a DCRDEX server, you must post a fidelity bond - a small amount of funds temporarily locked in an on-chain contract. Bonds establish your trading tier, which determines how much you can trade at once. Your trading limits also grow as you build reputation through successful trades. You can manage your bond strength and trading tier from the DEX Settings panel.
No trading fees, but you pay network fees
DCRDEX does not collect any trading fees. However, since swaps happen on-chain, you will pay normal network transaction fees to miners. Fee estimates are shown before you submit an order. See Fee Details for more information.
Native wallets need time to sync
When you first create a native wallet, it needs to synchronize with the blockchain network. This can take some time depending on the asset. Your wallet will show sync progress - wait for it to complete before trying to trade or send funds.
Something not working?
Check the Troubleshooting page for help with common issues like wallet recovery and rescanning. You can also get help from the community in the #support channel on Decred Matrix.
Tatanka Mesh (Tatanka, the mesh) is the evolution of DCRDEX. Where DCRDEX relies on a central server for maintaining order books and policing trades, Tatanka is a decentralized P2P protocol that enables a network of subscribers to collectively perform these tasks. Here are the three critical services that Tatanka Mesh provides.
- Enhance the ability for users to connect and to share data both publicly and privately
- Aggregate reputation data and monitor fidelity bonds. Tatanka can limit access to users who earn a bad reputation
- Oracle services for fiat exchange rates and blockchain transaction fee rates
The mesh collects no fees for its services. Trades are performed using trustless atomic swaps that exchange funds directly between wallets.
Going P2P empowers our users to trade directly, enhancing security, censorship-resistance, privacy, and self-sovereignty.
Most users will use the native wallets that are already built into Bison Wallet. Depending on the asset, you may be able to choose from: (1) a native wallet, (2) an external full node wallet, or (3) an Electrum-based wallet. Consult the following table for a summary of wallet support. If there is a checkmark in the "native" column, no external software is required.
| Coin | native | full node | Electrum | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | ✓ | v27.0 | v4.5.5 | |
| Decred | ✓ | v2.0.3 | x | |
| Ethereum | ✓ | geth IPC/http/ws | N/A | tokens: USDC, USDT, MATIC, POL. See RPC Providers |
| Polygon | ✓ | bor IPC/http/ws | N/A | tokens: USDC, USDT, WBTC, WETH. See RPC Providers |
| Litecoin | ✓ | v0.21.2.1 | v4.2.2 | |
| Bitcoin Cash | ✓ | v27.0.0 | x | use only Bitcoin Cash Node for full node |
| Dogecoin | x | v1.14.7.0 | x | |
| Zcash | x | v6.11.0 | x | |
| Dash | x | v20.1.1 | x | |
| DigiByte | x | v8.22.0 | x | |
| Firo | x | v0.14.14.1 | v4.1.5.5 |
ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum and Polygon are created automatically when the parent network wallet exists. Token wallets share the parent wallet's configuration, including RPC providers.
Initially proposed by Jake Yocom-Piatt in the Decred blog in 2018, DCRDEX development started in 2019 and has been fully funded by the Decred treasury.