Payment Method Maintainer

[cbeams]

Docs: Team: @bisq-network/payment-method-maintainers Primary owner: @pazza83

---

This role is responsible for the vetting new payment methods in Bisq, as well as maintaining existing ones and monitoring their performance. This is not a technical maintainer role, i.e. it is not about development, but rather about managing the process around payment methods.

Tasks

• Monthly reporting on payment method volume and health
• Monthly reporting on role issues
• Payment methods prioritization
• Payment methods requirements verification and required fields description
• Maintain payment methods roadmap
• Develop payment method addition process

Goals

• Proactively find payment methods to support Bisq's growth in coordination with growth experiments
• Support to proposed payment methods addition
• Develop payment methods maintainer role

KPIs

• % of transaction problems related to payment methods
• % of market share represented by supported payment methods (TBD)
• % arbitration requests / payment method, speed, etc.

Slack: #payment-methods Issues: https://github.com/bisq-network/bisq-desktop label-> in:payment-methods

[cbeams]

Closing as dropped. We do very much need payment method experts, but it probably doesn't make sense to try to model this as a dedicated role under the DAO. Typically, people are an expert with one payment method or another, and what's needed is documentation for them about how to provide the team with all the necessary information about adding a payment method, e.g. details about chargeback risk, daily/weekly/monthly limits, etc.

[cbeams]

On second thought, I am re-opening this issue. We do very much need someone to take responsibility for our payment methods in Bisq, especially as regards adding new ones and the requirements for doing so.

In the recent request by @seljuck to add support for Popmoney as a payment method (bisq-network/exchange#1273), @ManfredKarrer posted the following (now outdated) docs that we used to vet various payment methods:

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xiOqcBSInIF7ozWdN3DvM5O-nyZ-397G9MR8LOXs6iA/edit#gid=0
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iQHhtAOieu5i6_2rvkvtcLS70A991aZlxkJgzv97XuU/edit#

If you are interested in taking ownership of these materials, and generally improving the way we manage payment methods in Bisq, let us know!

If you are a developer, this role can also include actually maintaining the code around payment methods as well, but that is not a requirement.

[cbeams]

Per the Slack conversation at https://bisq.slack.com/archives/C6YNLRYS2/p1523352284000066, @alfsbs would like to take on this role, and I've assigned him in a provisional fashion here. The next steps will be putting together a more detailed description of the role, its tasks, and goals, and also putting together an up-to-date, canonical "howto" doc on adding payment methods to Bisq. Welcome, @alfsbs, and please feel free to discuss all of this, to share your progress, etc in the #payment-methods channel in Slack.

[alfsbs]

Proposed description:

This role is responsible for the management of payment methods addition and maintenance

Tasks

• Monthly reporting on payment method volume and health
• Monthly reporting on role issues
• Payment methods prioritization
• Payment methods requirements verification and required fields description
• Maintain payment methods roadmap
• Develop payment method addition process

Goals

• Proactively find payment methods to support Bisq's growth in coordination with growth experiments
• Support to proposed payment methods addition
• Develop payment methods maintainer role

KPIs

• % of transaction problems related to payment methods
• % of market share represented by supported payment methods (TBD)
• % arbitration requests / payment method, speed, etc.

Slack: #payment-methods Issues: https://github.com/bisq-network/bisq-desktop label-> in:payment-methods

[cbeams]

Thanks, @alfsbs. I've transcribed your proposed description into the actual description at top, and made a few small style and text changes along the way. If it looks good to you, then onward!

[alfsbs]

2018.04 report

General moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer.

Investigation of the following payment methods

• MoneyGram (already in implementation process)
• Payeer

Other in process

• Monthly reporting
• Payment methods benchmark
• Payment methods addition process document
• Creating Payment-Methods repository
• MoneyGram and Payeer payment methods addition

/cc bisq-network/compensation#67

[cbeams]

Thanks, @alfsbs. A couple minor nits:

• Please use 2018.04 report title formatting for these report comments for consistency with everyone else's reports.

• Please backreference your your compensation report issue with a mentioning like the following: bisq-network/compensation#67. I and other do this with a /cc bisq-network/compensation#67 at the bottom of the report comment. Doing this ensures bi-directional linkage between compensation request issues and role report comments, which is quite helpful for voting stakeholders as they review everyone's requests. Have a look at the timeline of your compensation request issue now, and you'll see the effect that the issue reference I just created has on its timeline.

[alfsbs]

2018.05 Report

General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.

Bisq Docs (Payment Methods Knowledge Base)

• Created a Cash Deposit entry
• Created a Revolut entry

Payment Methods Management

• Venmo and CashApp blocking discussions
• Moneygram implementation collaboration

Monthly reporting

• 10 issues pending, 4 closed
• 1 payment method waiting for merge
• 2 payment methods being described for implementation

Trades' amount

Most total volume for the 0.6-0.7 interval, probably due to being the lowest amount with a small % fee

Below a graph showing total % fees for different BTC amounts

Trades' volume and frequency / Payment Method

SEPA transactions dominating in both volume and frequency, Altcoins with the highest mean amount

• Full report spreadsheet

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/79

[cbeams]

Note, @alfsbs and all that I've just removed the help wanted label from this role. It would still be good to have a secondary role owner to work with @alfsbs and be able to pick stuff up in his absence, but this is no longer a role that has no owner or otherwise needs to be handed off urgently to someone else, thus the removal of the label.

[alfsbs]

2018.06 Report

General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.

Payment Methods Management

• Moneygram implementation collaboration

Monthly reporting

• 9 issues pending, 4 closed
• 2 payment methods being described for implementation

Trades' amount volume and frequency

Trades' volume and frequency / Payment Method

Trades' volume and frequency / Currency Pair

BTC_EUR trades' volume and frequency / Payment Method

BTC_EUR trades' volume and frequency / Payment Method

• Full report spreadsheet

Chargeback issues

• 1 Zelle chargeback reported

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/90

[alfsbs]

LocalBitcoins Benchmark

Countries

   

 Total / Payment methods in top 6 countries (missing)

Calculated by offers in LocalBitcoins

Payment methods / country (missing)

[alfsbs]

2018.07 Report

General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.  

Payment Methods Management

  Payer, Serve, Hal Cash, Qiwi and Advcash PMs verification, description and follow up LBC payment methods benchmark  

Monthly reporting

• 12 issues pending
• 5 payment methods described and ready for implementation  

  Trades' amount

      

  Trades' volume and frequency / Payment Method

        

 

• Full report spreadsheet   /cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/#102

[ghost]

Very interesting graphics. Thanks. Wonder if XMR/BTC pair for july is a trend or just a bubble ? XMR/BTC is 1st in volume in July. Did this already happen ? (probably not). Wow !

[alfsbs]

@HarryMacfinned Thanks! Yes, it has come from 3rd place on May to 1st in July, hopefully it will carry on growing!

[alfsbs]

2018.09 Report

  General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments. The next three months I have a bigger work load and I will be less active  

Payment Methods Management

  Payer, Serve, Qiwi and Advcash PMs verification, description and follow up  

Monthly reporting

 

• 11 issues pending
• 4 payment methods described and ready for implementation: Serve, Payeer, Qiwi and Advcash  

  Trades' amount

 

 

Trades' volume and frequency / Pair / Payment Method

 

 

• Full report spreadsheet

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/123

[alfsbs]

2018.08 Report

 

Trades' amount

 

Trades' volume and frequency / Pair / Payment Method

 

 

• Full report spreadsheet

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/123

[alfsbs]

Payment Methods evolution

[alfsbs]

2018.10 Report

  General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.  

Payment Methods Management

  Payer, Serve, Qiwi and Advcash PMs verification, description and follow up  

Monthly reporting

 

• 11 issues pending
• 4 payment methods described and ready for implementation: Serve, Payeer, Qiwi and Advcash  

  Trades' amount

   

Trades' volume and frequency / Payment Method

 

Payment methods evolution

• Full report spreadsheet   /cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/159

[cbeams]

@alfsbs, I think it might be best to do away with the dedicated bisq-network/payment-methods repository, and to move all the issues there into the main bisq-network/bisq repository. There are a few reasons for this:

1. There are already a lot of payment-method related issues in the main repo, and that's a natural place for people to think about adding them
2. We've recently reconsolidated into the main repo there, and so it's a good time to do that with payment-methods too.
3. Having the payment method issues in the main repo will make it easier and more natural to associate them with code changes in that repo.
4. There isn't much value in having the separate repo, other than keeping these issues out of the sight of main repository maintainers, but it's probably best that they do see them anyway.

Your role would stay the same, you'd just be commenting on issues in the main repo instead of the dedicated one.

Any objections?

[alfsbs]

@cbeams, no objections, it makes sense.

[cbeams]

All issues (both open and closed) in the bisq-network/payment-methods repository have been moved into the main bisq-network/bisq repository, assigned to @alfsbs and labeled as in:payment-methods. The payment-methods repository has also been deleted.

@ManfredKarrer and @ripcurlx, please assign and label any new incoming payment method issues the same way.

[alfsbs]

2018.12 Report

  General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.  

Payment Methods Management

  Payer, Serve, Qiwi and Advcash PMs verification, description and follow up  

Monthly reporting

 

• 11 issues pending
• 4 payment methods described and ready for implementation: Serve, Payeer, Qiwi and Advcash  

  Analytics

   

 

• Full report spreadsheet

/cc bisq-network/compensation#203

[alfsbs]

2018.11 Report

  General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments. The next two months I have a bigger work load and I will be less active  

Payment Methods Management

  Payer, Serve, Qiwi and Advcash PMs verification, description and follow up  

Monthly reporting

 

• 11 issues pending
• 4 payment methods described and ready for implementation: Serve, Payeer, Qiwi and Advcash  

  Analytics

   

   

• Full report spreadsheet

/cc bisq-network/compensation#202

[alfsbs]

2018.12 Report

General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.

Payment Methods Management

Payer, Serve, Qiwi and Advcash PMs verification, description and follow up

Monthly reporting

• 11 issues pending
• 4 payment methods described and ready for implementation: Serve, Payeer, Qiwi and Advcash

Analytics

• Full report spreadsheet

/cc bisq-network/compensation#218

[alfsbs]

2019.02 Report

  General: Moderation of the #payment-methods slack channel and collaboration in bisq's community forum related issues. Participation in growth calls in relation to payment methods maintainer and growth experiments.  

Payment Methods Management

  Payeer, Serve, Qiwi and PMs verification, description and follow up  

Monthly reporting

 

• 3 payment methods described and ready for implementation: Serve, Payeer, Qiwi  

   

• Full report spreadsheet

[wiz]

Now that I've added Japan Bank Transfer payment method, and started working on Brazil NuBank with @fabio, I propose to takeover this role together with @m52go - he can do the biz side and I can do the dev side 😁

[m52go]

Changes made -- I've removed @alfsbs as there hasn't been much progress/feedback here lately.

Typically it would make sense to have more of a discussion to effect a change in roles, but given the consistent lack of updates here, I think it's fair to re-assign this one to more active contributors.

Alf, if you have any pending contributions or any other feedback, please let us know.

[m52go]

2019.09 report

Adding/Removing Payment Accounts

Japanese Bank Transfer (furikomi) was added with v1.1.6. wiz and I have had preliminary talks with a couple of Aussies to add Osko.

We may need to remove Revolut if this issue is not handled quickly—multiple reports of people getting in trouble with their banks because of Revolut transactions.

Fiat Payment Account Stats

Here is how fiat payments were made in the month of September.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/372

[m52go]

2019.10 report

No notable changes.

Here is how fiat payments were made in the month of October.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/408

[m52go]

2019.11 report

No notable changes.

Here is how fiat payments were made in the month of November. I've included BTC amounts per payment method below.

Frequency

BTC Volume

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/442

[m52go]

2019.12 report

No notable changes.

Here is how fiat payments were made in the month of December.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/471

[m52go]

2020.01 report

No notable changes.

Here is how fiat payments were made in the month of January.

As well as a breakdown of traditional altcoin trades and instant altcoin trades.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/497

[m52go]

Cycle 11 Report

No notable changes, yet. But there has been activity, with actual contributions probably taking place in Cycle 12. Payment methods need more attention, and may be a reason for smaller trades overall, especially since account signing was implemented.

SWIFT bank wires were supposed to be included in v1.2.8 but got pushed back in favor of critical bugs that were found in advance of the release.

Other contributors have been experimenting with the online version of Western Union to see if there is any potential / utility for it within Bisq.

Zelle has changed some things about the way it operates, which makes the warning message and list of banks displayed in Bisq outdated. I just discovered this recently...PR to fix incoming.

Here is how fiat payments were made in February.

As well as a breakdown of traditional altcoin trades and instant altcoin trades, this time shown over time since introduction, instead of as a 1-month snapshot. Seen this way, it's unmistakable how much more common instant trades were when altcoin volume was high. Why is that?

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/513

[m52go]

Cycle 12 Report

No notable changes. Changes are in a bit of a limbo, as there is a desire to do a thorough overhaul of how payment accounts on Bisq work...but it's not clear when or how long that might take.

In the mean time, SWIFT bank wires, WU bank transfers, and possible new payment methods in Latin America may be in line to be added.

We need to figure out how to reconcile these mid/long-term and short-term priorities.

Here is how fiat payments were made in March. Notice that Zelle is currently the most-used payment method across the network (and actually has been for almost a year now).

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/540

[m52go]

Cycle 13 Report

No notable changes.

For this cycle I present a chart showing how the share of how fiat methods have changed over time.

Zelle and SEPA are up top. Revolut (green) and national bank transfer (yellow) are next. Faster Payments is next (GBP) and showing big growth lately, which was a surprise. Interac is next (red) which is nice as it shows steady CAD growth.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/572

[m52go]

Cycle 14 Report

No notable changes. Below are premiums paid by payment method, maker vs taker.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/604

[m52go]

Cycle 15 Report

No notable changes. Below are percent breakdowns of all payment methods on Bisq, including altcoins.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/631

[m52go]

Cycle 16 Report

No notable changes. Hoping we can pay more attention to this element of Bisq soon.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/649

[m52go]

Cycle 17 Report

No notable changes. I did make a post that covered trading trends, and payment methods were a notable part of it.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/676

[m52go]

Cycle 18 Report

No notable changes, but in response to recent suggestions for adding new payment methods, I'll start working to determine criteria and process for getting new payment methods added.

/cc https://github.com/bisq-network/compensation/issues/702

[cbeams]

Per @m52go's request and as per https://github.com/bisq-network/proposals/issues/252#issuecomment-711215228, I've added @pazza83 as the primary maintainer for this role, and removed @m52go from the @bisq-network/payment-method-maintainers team. @wiz remains as secondary.

[pazza83]

Hi @cbeams many thanks. I am acknowledging this. I will be work with @m52go to get a good understanding of the role. I will provide the relevant reports here.

[wiz]

Since pazza is taking over, I'm going to resign as the secondary owner

[pazza83]

Hi @m52go I have made a few tweaks to the definition of the payment method maintainer role, see below. It would be great to get your feedback. Also as Wiz has now resigned from being secondary owner, I am assuming you will now take his place?

Payment Method Maintainer Role

Docs: Team: @bisq-network/payment-method-maintainers Primary owner: @pazza83 Secondary owner:  N/A

---

Role is responsible for the vetting new payment methods in Bisq, as well as maintaining existing ones and monitoring their performance. This is not a technical maintainer role, i.e. it is not about development, but rather about managing the process around payment methods.

Tasks

• Take ownership of the discussion of new proposed payment methods to either recommend them for addition or to be discounted as options.
• Work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure decisions are quickly reached
• Liaise with develops to implement new payment methods
• Liaise with mediators with any issues with existing or potential payment methods
• Ensure all payment methods utilized have a high degree of usability
• Promote new payment methods on various channels; website, wiki, twitter, reddit, telegram, bisq community etc
• Prioritization of payment methods for addition, and records of payment method that have been discounted including reasoning
• Recommend payment methods requirements; limits, aging, signing requirement, required fields, variations to trade protocols etc
• Maintain a roadmap for the addition of payment methods
• Develop a process for payment methods to be added
• Monitor and participate in discussion of payment methods on Bisq.community / Keybase and GitHub
• Monthly reporting on payment method, number of available payment methods, volume per payment method and general progress/health/issues
• Monthly reporting on role issues

Goals

• Proactively find payment methods to support Bisq's growth in coordination with growth experiments
• Increase liquidity in existing popular markets (USD, EUR, GBP etc)
• Increase liquidity in less popular
• Support proposed payment methods addition
• Develop and document payment methods maintainer role
• Attract new traders looking to trade with a particular payment method to Bisq when payment added
• Add more multi-currency payment methods that would allow users to trade with more than one currency

KPIs

• % change in liquidity in existing popular markets (USD, EUR, GBP etc)
• % change in liquidity in less popular markets
• Number of current payment methods available to Bisq
• Number of payment methods in development
• Time between payment method being proposed and implemented
• % of transaction problems related to payment methods
• % of market share represented by supported payment methods (TBD)
• % arbitration requests / payment method, speed, etc.

[cbeams]

Since pazza is taking over, I'm going to resign as the secondary owner

I've removed you from @bisq-network/payment-method-maintainers accordingly.

[pazza83]

Cycle 19 Report

This is my first report since being assigned the Payment Method Maintainer role.

Hello from me

Seeing as this is my first report I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself to people and provide a little in the way of background.

My interest in Bisq began in April this year. Having more time on my hands due to the lockdowns, I got stuck into finding out more about Bisq, I was particularly interested in reading about the DAO and gaining an understanding of how it was being implemented and how the governance was structured. I value privacy, anonymity, and societies that are based on openness. These shared values and the decentralized and distributed nature of BISQ was, therefore, appealing to me. Since then I have been actively using the platform to gain a better understanding of how it is used and to experiment with a variety of payment methods. I am optimistic about the success of BISQ and am hopeful that it can be a catalyst for other decentralized autonomous organizations to be established. I was keen to be of any value I could so volunteered for the Payment Method Maintainer role.

Getting started

As this is my first month I have been spending time trying to understand the requirements of the role, and what needs to be achieved. To this end I have spent quite a bit of time just getting familiar with GitHub in general, previous issues related payment methods and trying to understand how I can best contribute to Bisq. I have also been in contact with @m52go who has been really helpful in answering all my questions and transitioning the role to myself.

Problems

• Bisq lacks a variety of payment methods. This reduces accessibility and liquidity.
• Payment methods proposed may, and have, be discussed for years with no decision being reached. This leads trades to provide their liquidity to alternative platforms.
• Bisq lacks multi-currency payment solutions. This reduces accessibility and liquidity.
• The payment account section on Bisq is not very intuitive. I expect many traders are unaware of all the possible options for payment methods, and potentially all the different markets they might be able to access.

Outcomes

For this role I see the outcomes to strive towards to be:

• Increase liquidity in fiat markets
• Increase accessibility for traders in fiat markets
• Increase the number of traders utilizing Bisq for fiat/BTC trades

Solutions

I have documented the solutions required to achieve the outcomes within the tasks/goals sections of the Payment Maintainer role. https://github.com/bisq-network/roles/issues/38#issuecomment-727760468

What other payment methods are other P2P fiat exchanges utilizing?

I decided to research and document what payment methods other P2P fiat exchanges are using, and compare this to what Bisq offers.

Here is a link showing the data. It is sorted by most to least popular payment methods (where popularity is defined by the number of P2P fiat exchanges utilizing the specific payment method)

What payment methods are being utilized by P2P fiat exchanges?

It is clear from this research that Bisq is underutilized in terms of payment method options. I do not think this can be explained away by other platform using more risky payment methods. There are many payment methods that would be able to be utilized by Bisq that fit all essential criteria.

This spreadsheet gives an indication of the scope of the work required going forward by the Payment Method Maintainer.

Putting in place some systems

I am a fan of putting systems in place early on. Therefore, I made the following proposals:

• Proposed payment method addition process and estimated timelines
• Proposed existing payment method editing process and estimated timelines
• Proposed list of requirements to consider when adding new payment methods

I will continue to improve the above proposals and make additions for new systems that increase scalability.

Surveying traders about what payment method they would like added

I reached out to the Bisq community to ask for their input on what new payment methods would they like added to Bisq. I did this on the following platforms:

• GitHub
• Reddit
• Bisq community
• Keybase

• Telegram

  Getting involved in existing discussions

I have assumed ownership of the following long-standing discussions. I am determined to bring them to a conclusion, to add or not to add, by the end of the year.

• Add SWIFT (int. wire transfer) as payment method
• Add "Cash by mail" as a payment option

The barriers to achieving this, and the goals of my role in general, is my ability to encourage the participation of multiple contributors that have lots of demands on their time. I am hopeful that I will develop my skills to work well as part of a remote team to achieve this.

Assisting in bringing two existing proposed payment method issues to conclusion and being added to v1.5.0

I spent time on the following:

• Add Transferwise as new multi-currency payment method
• Add Amazon Gift Card as payment method

Both of these payment methods have been included in the recent v1.5.0. Many thanks to @chimp1984 and @viperperidot for helping me with this.

Other existing payment methods to be added

There are many more payment methods that required consideration for addition. Whilst I have acknowledged them I am keen to take stock of all the requests, develop a roadmap, and prioritize before getting to work on more. I am working on this to be ready for Cycle 20.

Existing payment methods to be edited

As above I have noted payment methods that need changes made to them but am yet to action them.

I have also been involved in a Keybase discussion with the mediators and another trader about TransferWise SEPA.

Ensure all payment methods utilized have a high degree of usability

I have made some suggestions for improvements to the Bisq client to facilitate this:

The following have been actioned:

• Improve UI/UX for account aging column in 'Offers' section of GUI
• Proposed changes to the 'Trades', 'History' and 'My Open Offers' sections in the Bisq client
• Updates to 'Edit Offer' to allow for change of market and payment method

The following is still in discussion, no comments yet:

• Fix various 'account management' usability issues in the Bisq client to optimize for traders with multiple fiat and altcoin accounts

Monitor and participate in discussion of payment methods on Bisq.community / Keybase and GitHub

I have been actively participating in the payment-methods Keybase channel. I have also helped a few users with payment related questions on the Bisq Reddit, Telegram and Community channels

Promote new payment methods

I have not started this yet

Cycle KPI's

I have not started this yet.

Additional tasks

I have generally been trying to involve myself in discussions on GitHub and share my thoughts / experiences.

I have arranged with @leo816 to start a support internship for the next cycle. I think this will be great learning opportunity and I am sure any knowledge I gain will be useful for the payment maintainer role also.

I am really enjoying contributing 😊

[cbeams]

Welcome, @pazza83! Proactive ownership of this role has been long needed in the project and it's been great to see your engagement over the last weeks. Keep going!

[pazza83]

Cycle 20 Report

This is my second cycle as Payment Method Maintainer.

Key learning points

Key learning points from this cycle have been:

• Make sure I have completed a Wiki in advance of a new payment method being added. This cycle saw the addition of 3 new payment methods; TransferWise, Amazon eGift Cards and PayID. It took me a couple of weeks to get the Wiki's online for the Amazon and TransferWise payment methods. It would have been great to have a wiki in place for them prior to them going online, particularly as they are not so self explanatory.

• Have marketing materials created for the promotion of new payment methods ready to be tweeted etc.

• Have a system in place to organize the addition of new payment methods in place.

Completed tasks

• I have set up a Keybase group to liaise with develops to implement new payment methods

• I have set up a Keybase group to liaise with mediators with any issues with existing or potential payment methods

• I have made users aware of the new payment methods on various channels; website, wiki reddit, telegram, bisq community etc

• I have recommend SWIFT to be added as a payment method

• I have recommend Cash By Mail to be added as a payment method

• I have been monitor and participating in discussion of payment methods on Bisq.community / Keybase and GitHub. I am taking stock of all the payment methods so I can priotritorize them for addition. I would also like to batch them up so that it reduces developer recourses.

• I have made a proposal to Use Keybase to increase accessibility to Bisq for new traders with no funds for security deposit, trading and mining fees It would be great to solve the 'how do I trade on Bisq with no Bitcoin problem

• I made a proposal to Add missing 4 countries to the SEPA and SEPA Instant payment accounts in Bisq client

• I made a proposal to Fix various 'account management' usability issues in the Bisq client to optimize for traders with multiple fiat and altcoin accounts '

• Troubleshooted minor issues with the implementation of TransferWise and Amazon eGift Cards. Still in progress.

• Updated the text for the New payment method' GitHub issue so it is in keeping with my proposed requirements to consider when adding new payment methods.

• I have tried to take ownership of an old issue 'Add option to make trade 'reason' less obvious' and made a design mockup as to how it could be implemented

• Following a Keybase discussion with @wiz about unified payment methods I made a proposal with mockup of how to to increase liquidity on Bisq by allowing each offer to have multiple payment methods and currencies associated with it.

• Completed a wiki for Amazon eGift Cards

• Completed a wiki for TransferWise

Tasks in progress

• Fix issue with lack of signed accounts for Moneybeam, Uphold and PopMoney

• Complete a roadmap for the addition of payment methods. I have started this but am yet to complete it.

Future tasks

• I have made lots of proposals above but need to action / take ownership of them.

• Create GitHub issue for inclusion of TransferWise - US as a payment method.

• Create GitHub issue for minor changes needed to Amazon eGift Cards (issue with uses in counties of Euro currency needing to purchase Euro from sellers country.

• Long term plan is to create a Wiki for all payment methods. I have also been doing some analysis of existing payment methods and can see some are under utilized. I would like to make sure this is not due to lack of understanding / marketing of the specific payment methods.

• Once I have a roadmap, my plan is to score all proposed payment methods to give an objective number that can be used to effectively prioritize them for addition. Before I move on to these I would like to action the long standing SWIFT and CBM payment methods.

• I sill need to do a report on payment methods. Plan for the next cycle is to look back on all historic payment methods and report of number of BTC volume. This is now easily possible due to the export to CSV on Bisq 1.5.2.

Comments about recently added payment methods

PayID is still yet to be adopted. There have been a handful of trades but I think more liquidity is needed in the AUD/BTC for this to really take off.

I am pleased with how both Amazon eGift cards and TransferWise have started off.

Amazon has a strong use case for privacy and it is good to be able to fund a BTC purchase via credit / debit card.

I think TransferWise will do really well. I can see it competing, outperforming Revolut once it is adopted and added to US markets.

Other comments

I am enjoying getting stuck in to this role. I think there is lots of potential to increase trade volume by increasing accessibility to Bisq to users. I am still getting to grips with everything and trying to juggle lots of tasks that need doing. I am looking forward to when I have organized myself more and have a plan of what to do. I think it will be 2/3 cycles before I have reviewed all the payments methods proposed and have a plan in place to action for 2021. I am keen to get started and excited about what can be achieved for the upcming year.

[chimp1984]

Thanks a lot @pazza83 for this excellent report and your work in that area!

[pazza83]

Cycle 21 Report

This is my third cycle as Payment Method Maintainer. I think I am beginning to emerge from the organization / getting to grips with everything stage, and am starting to see a little more progress now in terms of things being delivered.

I am enjoying the role and can see a more clear path of what can be achieved in the coming year.

Keybase #buy-bitcoin

Following my proposal to Use Keybase to increase accessibility to Bisq for new traders with no funds for security deposit, trading and mining fees I have started developing this channel. I have completed two trades as a result of messages there. It is still very much a work in progress and I have started to draft a Wiki to help set out rules: https://bisq.wiki/Keybase-Buy_Bitcoin

The fact these trades rely on trust makes me want to ensure the documentation is on-point to ensure traders are both aware of the risks, and understand how to vet a potential trade partner.

I have not worked out how to pin a message in a Keybase channel so if anyone knows how to achieve this please let me know.

TransferWise problems and removing Trade IDs

Unfortunately I know of at least 8 Bisq users that had their TransferWise closed over the course of a few days. It is speculated that TransferWise became aware of Bisq usage either through social media or a user contacting TW support. It is assumed they were then able to link the Bisq trades by the associated trade IDs. This is a real shame as TransferWise started off so well. I think it also demonstrates how more careful consideration needs to be given to trades that start and end with the same payment provider (eg Revolut, Uphold, PopMoney, N26 etc).

To address the Trade ID concerns the discussion that was restarted last month about Add option to make trade 'reason' less obvious became more important and ultimately it was decided that is would be best to remove Trade IDs altogether. Hopefully this will help TransferWise become a viable payment method again, and also reduce the chance of a mass closure of accounts occurring on TW or other platforms.

Community

I have been active on Keybase, Reddit and Github with regards discussion of all thing payment method related.

Liaising with Devs

I have worked with a number of Devs to deliver the addition of new payment methods:

• SWIFT
• Cash by Mail

And changes to existing ones where needed:

• Amazon eGift Cards
• MoneyBeam N26, Uphold, PopMoney
• SEPA
• TransferWise

All the above, apart from SWIFT, will have been completed and will be delivered with the next release.

Liaising with Mediators

No real issues. Many thaks to @Bisq-knight who made me aware of the Amazon eGift Card issue.

Promote new payment methods on various channels

I held off on this due to the TransferWise issue. I am considering how best to market new payment methods. It seems TransferWise made a comment on one of the Twitter posts about cryptocurrencies being against the terms of service. I think making users aware of new methods, but not the payment provider, would be good. Maybe a news/updates section could be added to the new UI bisq-network/projects#47 I assume a basic Tor html browser / reader would be possible?

I need to consider how best to market payment methods. It is a work in progress. I have not really got started yet.

Prioritization of payment methods for addition

I am working on this at present. First job was to produce a list of

• Proposed payment methods
• Payment methods requiring editing
• Existing payment methods

My inital plan was to score the payment methods based on how closed they meet the criteria to be added.

Now I am leaning more to batching payment methods per country / currency. This would make it easier to promote to new users and increase liquidity. I think this will be my preference. I know Colombian, Venezuelan and Brazilian users have been waiting for a long time for more access to their markets. I am keen to address their requirements. I also made a batch of proposals for some more EUR and USD options, as well as three new Indian payment method options.

Develop a process for payment methods to be added

I am trying to stick to the processes I proposed for editing and adding new payment methods. It seems to be going well and I am hopeful I will meet the estimated timelines.

https://github.com/bisq-network/growth/issues/206 https://github.com/bisq-network/growth/issues/207

The text for the New payment method' GitHub issue has now been updated so is in keeping with my proposed requirements to consider when adding new payment methods.

Current state of payment methods in numbers

29 payment methods available to Bisq users. 2 payment methods are being added (CBM and SWIFT) 10 payment methods have been discounted 19 payment methods are being discussed on GitHub 15 payment methods are yet to make it to GithHub issue proposal stage.

Find payment methods to support Bisq's growth.

This month I proposed the following payment methods for addition:

EUR - Goal to increase liquidity in existing popular markets

• Add Bizum as a new payment method (popular in Spain)
• Add Verse as a payment method (popular European payment app)
• Add Monese as a payment method (popular mobile bank app in UK and Europe)

USD - Goal to increase liquidity in existing popular markets

• Add Venmo as a payment method
• Add Strike App as a new payment method
• Add ACH Transfer - USA as payment method
• Add Domestic Wire Transfer - USA as payment method
• Add TransferWise-USD as a payment method
• Add payment method: ATH Móvil (Puerto Rico) (user proposed)

INR - Goal to increase liquidity in less popular popular markets

• Add Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a payment method (popular mobile payment service in India)
• Add Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) as a payment method (popular mobile payment service in India)
• Add PayTM as a payment method (popular mobile payment service in India)

I also received positive feedback from Reddit users on a post on r/BitcoinIndia

I have also researched many more. Concentrating my efforts for now on multi-currency payment methods.

Next month I will propose more. I understand that for some it might be frustrating to see multiple new payment methods being proposed when others are yet to be actioned. Fear not, there is a method to the process! I am keen to get everything that could be added onto GitHub for discussion before moving on to the next stage. This will also give users the time needed to comment on the proposals. It will be another month or so before this is complete. This way I will ensure that payment methods can be prioritized according to region . currency / user demand / feasibility etc. In the long run it will also allow me to cover more ground in less time and therefore result in more and better payment options for current and future Bisq users.

Wiki

One of my learning from last cycle was to get wikis online in preparation for new payment methods to be added. Therefore, I will try to stay ahead of the new Bisq releases/

This cycle I have completed a draft wiki for Cash by Mail - in preparation of it being added

I have also started the wiki for using keybase buy-bitcoin

Payment method volume/ KPIs

I have not started to build this into my process yet.

Future tasks

These are some of the other things I am yet to action:

• Action / take ownership of current GitHub issues regarding payment method changes / additions

• Create Wikis for all payment methods.

• Complete analysis of existing payment methods and can see some are under utilized. I would like to make sure this is not due to lack of understanding / marketing of the specific payment methods.

• Check changes and updates against the proposal I made to Fix various 'account management' usability issues in the Bisq client to optimize for traders with multiple fiat and altcoin accounts '

Other comments

I feel like I have managed to get understanding of the role. It will likely be another cycle before I am fully on it. Apologies to everyone that have made proposals recently and are keen to see some action. I am keen to get everything added once I have taken stock of everything that needs to be done. I am positive the work being done in the first quarter of this year will make things a lot smoother for the rest of 2021.