XMR<>BTC Atomic Swaps Desktop GUI
layout: fr
title: XMR<>BTC Atomic Swaps Desktop GUI
author: binarybaron
date: October 1, 2021
amount: 52
milestones:
- name: Working Prototype
funds: 45
done:
status: unfinished
- name: Tor & Rendezvous Protocol Integration
funds: 4
done:
status: unfinished
- name: Infrastructure maintenance (October - November)
funds: 1
done:
status: unfinished
- name: Infrastructure maintenance (December - January)
funds: 1
done:
status: unfinished
- name: Infrastructure maintenance (February - March)
funds: 1
done:
status: unfinishedWhat
GUI for BTC<>XMR Atomic Swaps
Atomic swaps between BTC and XMR have been one of the most discussed and anticipated developments in the space for quite some time. While Farcaster is still working on the implementation of their protocol, the COMIT team has already delivered an MVP. There are several swap providers active on the mainnet right now. Trustless cross-chain trades are becoming a reality. While the swap-cli developed as part of the MVP is usable and indeed works, it is not suitable for use by non-technical people who don't have experience navigating the command line.
For trustless atomic swaps to become widely adopted, the user experience must be dramatically improved. One should not have to manually type commands into a terminal or understand the protocol on a technical level to have the ability to take part. For this reason, I would like to spend my time working on a FOSS GUI for BTC<>XMR atomic swaps. The GUI will be built around the swap cli and will empower even non-technical people to swap their BTC for XMR.
Who
I am binarybaron, the creator of unstoppableswap.net (proof) and Monero enthusiast. I was excited about Atomic Swaps from the beginning, tested the first versions, and even contributed to the project (e.g. https://github.com/comit-network/xmr-btc-swap/pull/585). When the first testnet asb went online, I realized that we would need a better user interface and a platform to compare the different swap providers. I decided to start building unstoppableswap.net. The interest has been much greater than I could have ever predicted. In the last week alone, the site has been visited more than 150,000 times. The website has become an important entry point for new users.
Proposal
I am asking for 45 XMR to develop and deliver the first working prototype of a graphical user interface that will allow users to perform an Atomic Swap, withdraw funds from the internal wallet, compare swap providers, and view their past swap history all without having to use the terminal. I estimate that it will take 3-4 months to complete.
Once this groundwork is in place and the basic functionality is reasonably stable, I will start working on the Rendezvous protocol and Tor integration. I'll require 4 XMR for this to be completed.
In addition, I need 0.5 XMR per month (for 6 months) to operate and maintain the infrastructure of unstoppableswap.net. This includes a rendezvous server where swap providers can register using the libp2p rendezvous protocol. The backend, which indexes the swap providers, provides additional information such as uptime and age about providers and makes this information available via a publicly available API (http and websocket). And the frontend which will serve as a directory for releases of the GUI and a stripped-down web version of the tool.
What I want to focus on
Port the existing UI of unstoppableswap.net to an Electron app
I'll use Electron with React and TypeScript as a software stack for developing the frontend as well as the 'backend' (meaning the code that controls the swap-cli).
- Setup Electron and convert the existing codebase to TypeScript
- Setup Ci for testing, compilation, and publication of artifacts
Spawn swap-cli as child process
- Automatically download the latest version of swap-cli from GitHub and validate checksums
- Potentially also verify signatures if COMIT decides to sign their releases
Derive swap state from swap-cli logs
In order to display instructions and details about the current state of the swap to the user, I need to derive the internal swap state from the log output and the internal database of the of the cli.
- Decide on the best data structure to represent the state of a running swap
- Implement using a state management system like redux
- Potentially open PR upstream to add additional logging statements to cli
- Requires https://github.com/comit-network/xmr-btc-swap/pull/780
- Detect updates to the SQLite database and reflect those in the GUI
Happy-Path
I will start developing the interface that will navigate the user through the swap procedure. I will initially be focusing on the "happy path", i.e. a scenario where both Alice and Bob follow the defined rules and the swap is completed successfully.
View, resume, cancel swaps
I will enable users to view, resume and cancel swaps. A user will be able to check the amounts swapped in a particular swap and additional information such as the transactions involved will be displayed.
- Requires https://github.com/comit-network/xmr-btc-swap/issues/766
- Requires https://github.com/comit-network/xmr-btc-swap/issues/133
- Potentially open PR upstream to add additional logging statements to cli
Refund and punish path
Will add logic to state management system to derive the state for the refund and punish paths.
- Consider all the different scenarios and inform the user at all times what is happening
View balance of internal wallet and allow withdrawal of funds
Enable end-user to view the balance of the internal bitcoin wallet of the swap-cli and withdraw funds at will.
- Requires https://github.com/comit-network/xmr-btc-swap/issues/766
- Enable user to import the keys of the internal wallet into another wallet by computing the seed phrase and displaying it to the user
Use rendezvous server(s) for asb discovery
At the very beginning, we will use the API of unstoppableswap.net for the asb discovery. It would be ideal if the GUI could also use public rendezvous servers (like the one from COMIT) for looking up publicly accessible swap providers.
- Reimplement rendezvous protocol using js-libp2p
- Or use swap-cli to connect to a rendezvous server and retrieve the swap providers that have registered with them
Support for onion routing (rendezvous server, asb connection)
To not expose the user's IP address to the maker and to improve privacy, all traffic should be routed through tor.
- Automatically download the latest tor binary official sources
- Start in the background
- Validate checksums and possibly signature
- Configure swap-cli to use tor socks5 proxy
Education
We need to educate users on the specific rules they need to follow to avoid losing funds (e.g., not going offline for more than 12 hours after starting a swap).
- Quiz at first start-up to make sure user understands what rules he needs to follow
- Link to educational material
- Documentation
Release
- Compile binary for Windows, Linux, and macOS
- Provide download on unstoppableswap.net
Expiration date: November 30, 2021
Merge request reports
Activity
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I will back this both vocally as well as with beautiful XMR.
Edited by AncientSion
Could you comment on differences between your approach and this which was posted to Reddit 2 days ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/pyxpve/swapfe_an_atomic_swap_user_interface_for_bitcoin/
Well, first of all, I think it's great that there are other people out there also trying to improve the usability of Atomic Swaps. Competition is healthy and should be celebrated. The project seems more like a quick proof-of-concept hack than a full-fledged application to be made available to users. All the logic seems to be in a single Python file, and the end user still has to manually download the swap tool from GitHub and type a long identifier into a text box. Basically, it just pipes the console output of swap-cli into the browser and displays it to the user, which is fine, but not what I want to achieve.
We will be using a completely different software stack. The application will be built using Electron, which is very common for desktop applications (Discord and Slack use it, for example), rather than Python. My goal is to have a GUI similar to Bisq's. All the unnecessary complexity should be hidden from the user (asb detection via the rendezvous protocol, downloading and checking the latest version of the swap cli, routing traffic through Tor). In order to display information about the swap to the user, we will not only parse the output of the cli, but also read the internal database directly which will give us more flexibility. We'll also guide the user through the process of refunding or cancelling a swap which is often a pain point for new users. We want to make swapping BTC for XMR as easy as swapping ETH for DAI via Uniswap.
Electron is simply the most proven and mature framework for developing desktop applications with Typescript and Node. I've looked at the alternatives, but while I think they're interesting, I still think Electron is the best choice for this project. I also feel most comfortable using a tech stack I'm already very familiar with, and don't think diving into a completely new GUI framework in a language I'm not very familiar with is the most effective use of my time. I'd rather invest that time on improving the actual application than trying to reduce resource consumption by a few megabytes of RAM or a few percent of CPU usage.
mentioned in commit dce3b582
I did not expect the project to be funded so quickly. Thank you all for your contributions and support!
I have started development. I don't plan to provide weekly updates, but I will probably report on progress from time to time. The GitHub repository is public, so feel free to inspect the code or provide feedback as development progresses.
https://github.com/UnstoppableSwap/unstoppableswap-gui
PS: We are still looking for a proper name for the application. Feel free to make suggestions!
Edited by binarybaron
Update
Milestones 1 and 2 are in progress, but not yet completed. Much of the work has been finished and the basic features are functional, but there are still a lot of things to work out. We've ported the existing UI to Electron and setup continuous integration. We've enabled the end user to start a new swap and resume a paused swap. They can view their swap history and details about each trade (rate, amount, fees, etc.) We've also added a feature to view the balance of the internal wallet and withdraw the funds to an external wallet.
Repository: https://github.com/UnstoppableSwap/unstoppableswap-gui
Some screenshot of the UI (might change in the future):
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Milestone 3: Infrastructure maintenance (October - November) has been completed.
- Payout: 1 XMR
- Uptime: 98%
- Uptime Dashboard: https://stats.uptimerobot.com/XXoO7SnvzV
- API: The public REST API has been documented in the FAQ on the website
- Rendezvous Point: Address of the rendezvous point is listed on the website
Edited by binarybaron
