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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 directlyfrom 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.
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 | see RPC Providers for EVM-Compatible Networks |
| Polygon | ✓ | ???????. | N/A | see RPC Providers for EVM-Compatible Networks |
| 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 | v5.4.2 | x | |
| Dash | x | v20.1.1 | x | |
| Firo | x | v0.14.14.0 | v4.1.5.5 |
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.
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