Of all the cryptocurrency projects describing themselves as "decentralized exchanges" (DEXs), Bisq may live up to the description better than most.
Operating since 2017, when it was originally called Bitsquare, the Bisq DEX runs directly on the user's computer, rather than a hosted site, as many of the self-described DEXs currently do. And while DEXs like Airswap and Everbloom are operated by startups, Bisq is a strictly open source project developed by a grassroots collective.
However, the team behind Bisq recognizes it has more to do to eliminate single points of failure. As Bisq contributor Felix Moreno, a former chief financial officer of the bitcoin custody startup Xapo, told CoinDesk:
"If the [Bisq] founders want to go complete Satoshi and disappear from the project, it has to be able to survive that."So the Bisq team is launching a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), essentially software designed to manage compensation for contributors to the project's code without oversight from any single party. The testnet goes live in November, with the mainnet launching later this year.