Bisq Wiki - User contributions [en]

Resyncing SPV file

2020-02-11T22:42:33Z

Bisq-knight: Added reference to bisq docs & heading format alongside table of contents so we can "deep link

The Bisq application makes use of Bitcoin's Simplified Payment Verification or SPV for short. This allows the application to verify if a particular transaction is included in a block without having to download that entire block.

However, if the SPV file in your bisq application were to become corrupted or fall out of sync it could lead to any number of wallet issues, such as Bisq not displaying the correct account balance.

This can be resolved by deleting the SPV file and re-sycing Bisq. The data contained in the SPV file is a collection of data from the Bitcoin blockchain which allows Bisq to retrieve transaction information.

By deleting it you allow Bisq to re-sync the file with the Bitcoin blockchain and fix any potential errors.

For more information, please refer to [https://docs.bisq.network/backup-recovery.html#resync-spv-chain Bisq Docs]

==='''Follow these steps to re-sync the SPV file.''' ===

====1. Open the Bisq application and click on the '''Settings''' tab====

[[File:Market tab.png||1000px]]

====2. Click on '''NETWORK INFO'''====

[[File:Settings tab.png||1000px]]

====3. Click on '''DELETE SPV FILE AND RESYNC'''====

[[File:Network info.png||1000px]]

''You may now restart the application - Re-syncs may take a while depending on the age of your wallet and number of transactions.''

''CPU usage may be high and the Bisq application may not respond, this is normal, be patient and allow the re-sync to finish.''

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'''Note: If you are unable to access Bisq, you can manually delete the SPV file from the Bisq directory ---> btc_mainnet ---> wallet ---> bisq.spvchain. You will then be required to manually restart Bisq twice to complete the resync.'''

Troubleshooting network issues

2020-02-10T19:58:13Z

Bisq-knight:

If you're stuck on Bisq's initial loading screen for a while and then you are shown a screen about Tor it is probably because you ISP or network provider is actively blocking Tor.

Tor is actively working against these ISPs that block it by providing bridges. These bridges help you hop into the tor network through a not so known node. You can either know someone who runs a bridge and ask them for the details or you can go to https://bridges.torproject.org/bridges to get your own.

They look like this, and should be inserted in Bisq's Tor screen:

Note that the picture is only illustrative, the Bridges shown will vary on your IP range and a series of other factors (see more about how the Tor Project team optimises the list of bridges for maximum uncensorability here).
==Other Known connection issues==
===Forks of Bitcoin(the codebase) in the same computer===

Some forks of the Bitcoin repository (i.e. Litecoin, Dogecoin and many more) are known to affect Bisq's connectivity setup. These forks are still recognized by Bisq as a local Bitcoin node and thus Bisq attempts to connect to them but stays endlessly trying to find Bisq related transactions in Litecoin blocks, for example. That will never work :)

When you have these altcoins running in the same computer as you're running Bisq, please completely switch them (the altcoin nodes) off, turn Bisq on and let it load completely; only then you can turn the altcoins back on.
==Tor Bridges that don't work==

Some network administrators try really hard to block any Tor activity in their network (Universities in particular) and go as far as blocking specific types of SSL traffic & handshakes.

When that happens you can use a VPN to connect your computer to their network and then have Bisq use Tor from within the VPN tunnel to connect to the Bitcoin network.

Troubleshooting network issues

2020-02-10T19:57:19Z

Bisq-knight: Created page with " If you're stuck on Bisq's initial loading screen for a while and then you are shown a screen about Tor it is probably because you ISP or network provider is actively blocki..."

Wallet

2020-02-09T23:00:35Z

Bisq-knight: Created page with " As many other apps in the Bitcoin space, Bisq also has a wallet embedded in the app. It is not required in order to use Bisq but it is way easier to trade using it rather th..."

As many other apps in the Bitcoin space, Bisq also has a wallet embedded in the app. It is not required in order to use Bisq but it is way easier to trade using it rather than an external wallet. This article aims to explain the differences between the Bisq wallet and a generic wallet and solve a few questions that people have when using Bisq.

==What is a wallet?==

In super simple words a wallet is a piece of software that helps you

manage private keys,

Manage public keys, and thus generate addresses,

Generate and sign transactions and

keep track of the funds that belong to the private keys mentioned above by scanning the blockchain

Most wallets do just that and have a few advanced options on how to generate a transaction as, for example, a SegWit transaction does not have the exact same structure as a non-segwit transaction, a segwit-compatibility transaction and a multsig transaction, for example.

==The Bisq Wallet==

The Bisq wallet is particularly different than others because it allows you to interact with yet another type of transaction: a Bisq trading protocol transaction.

Bisq's trading protocol happens (today) all on-chain, which means it uses the Bitcoin blockchain to perform it's logic (which is very thin and simply logic).

Just to have an idea, the transactions that are markedly different because they originate from a Bisq trade are:

* The Maker fee transaction

* The Taker fee transaction

* The multisig transaction (which happens when an offer is taken from the Bisq order book)

The purpose here is not to detail how these transactions work or are structured, if you want to go deeper in this topic, look at this article about [[the anatomy of a bisq trade]].

==Understanding the Bisq Wallet==

If you navigate to the tab called Funds

In the Bisq wallet you will notice that you have 3 states for your balance:

* Available - normal balance that you can use to send BTC to any other address at will

* Reserved - balance that is under your full control, but that was marked as not spendable by the wallet (for your convenience, so for example, you don't start a sell trade and transfer all the funds out, which would cause you to pay more mining fees to fulfill what you initially intended)

* Locked - This is outside of your full control. It can relate to balance that you have locked in a trade either because you're selling that BTC or because it is related to the security deposit (which in most cases will simply go back to your wallet after the trade is done)

==SPV file==

Most mobile wallets and in-application wallets are what is called a SPV wallet (Simple Payment Verification). Bisq is no different, for most cases.

If you have a full node in the local network, Bisq will try to connect through it to scan the blockchain and to validate and broadcast that Bisq related transactions. The downside here is that you need to always be connected and on the tip of the blockchain for Bisq to work properly.

For all other cases, where there is no full node in the machine, Bisq will run in SPV mode. That means it will ping other Full nodes in the network to derive its state and store it in this SPV file that we mention so often.

Because Bisq uses the Bitcoin Timechain/blockchain to determine the state of trades this file is especially important for your local instance of Bisq to run smoothly. See more here

==Important==

Avoid using Bisq’s seeds in other Bitcoin wallets. Now all wallets support the handling of Bisq’s multisig as well as the BSQ token itself, which is based on Bitcoin UTXOs. By using your seed in other wallets you risk:

Messing with your own trades in Bisq - Exactly because bisq labels transactions internally (not something a lot of wallets do) it can get your open offers/trades into unexpected states.

Burning your BSQ balance - BSQ is colored Bitcoin, which means the token uses Bitcoin UTXOs to “move” around. If you spend these UTXOs for their Satoshi nominal values, you may encounter problems with your BSQ.