BCH-Based Openswap Client Will Feature Trustless Atomic Swaps

On Friday, Dec. 14, Bitcoin Cash developer Mark Lundeberg announced his new project Openswap, a fork of the Electron Cash client that features atomic swap functionality. Lundeberg’s been working on the Openswap software for months and the tool can perform swaps between bitcoin cash (BCH) and BTC in a trustless fashion.

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In-Wallet Atomic Swaps and Onchain Negotiations

Mark Lundeberg has revealed a new project he’s been working on and has published the software’s open source framework. According to the developer, the Openswap protocol is a clone of the Electron Cash light client but also offers a few different features. The Openswap software has an atomic swap platform, onchain private messaging (BCH messages that use encrypted OP_RETURN payloads), and also includes BTC wallet support. Lundeberg’s first iteration which he plans on releasing soon will contain a basic walkthrough of the atomic swap process and the ability to trade BCH for BTC or vice-versa. The onchain messaging can be used for negotiation purposes explained Lundeberg in his announcement.

“The initial release features BCH and BTC, by integrating elements from the BTC Electrum into BCH Electron Cash — Other Bitcoin compatible coins can be added later such as litecoin, dash, doge, and others,” the developer detailed.

Lundeberg continued by stating:

I welcome developers from these and other communities to help build the next generation software.

Anonymous, Trustless, and Decentralized Bitcoin Cash Trades

In order to use Openswap, the user simply opens the ‘addresses’ tab and right clicks to choose the ‘Openswap’ command. The protocol’s documentation explains at this point the user is able to view private messages they have sent and received in the past. Moreover, this area allows Openswap users to make offers and initiate the atomic swap process. The virtual order book resides on the BCH chain and with enough liquidity, the application could bring forth a BCH-based decentralized exchange (DEX). Even though the program is in its infancy, in theory it could be used by any type of cryptocurrency trading platform.

“The software is designed to follow the model of a decentralized exchange, in the sense that it could be used by any capable liquidity provider to provide exchange services,” Lundeberg stated.

The Electron Cash developer Jonald Fyookball explained during the announcement that he thought the Openswap fork was “excellent” news. “This could be big news for Bitcoin Cash if people start using a BCH DEX,” Fyookball detailed on the Reddit forum r/btc. Lundeberg explained the Openswap protocol could be utilized in other multi-currency wallets but he chose Electron Cash because he’s more familiar with the software’s framework. The initial release will be published soon, Lundeberg concluded, but he wants testers and developers experimenting with Openswap first. The project’s creator has also created a Telegram channel for people who want to provide feedback and contribute to testing.

What do you think about the Openswap protocol? Let us know what you think about this project in the comments section below.

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