Square’s Decentralized Bitcoin Exchange Proposal Announced: tbDEX

Jack Dorsey’s TBD Bitcoin project has released the white paper of its decentralized exchange proposal.

• Square’s decentralized bitcoin exchange proposal has been announced.
• tbDEX is a protocol that seeks to improve the on-ramp rails into bitcoin.
• The protocol’s whitepaper has also been released.

Square’s Bitcoin business TBD today released the whitepaper of its decentralized bitcoin exchange proposal, tbDEX, according to a statement posted on its website.

“We believe that the economy should be inclusive. We need to build on-ramps to this future where everyone can access and participate in the economy,” per the statement.

The tbDEX protocol aims to bridge the gap between the fiat and bitcoin worlds, given that most people still receive their paychecks in fiat currency and pay taxes in fiat currency. The project aims to make it easier for those who want to convert their debasing fiat for appreciating bitcoin in the purest free-market possible.

“We propose a solution that does not rely on a federation to control permission or access to the network; nor does it dictate the level of trust required between counterparties,” per the statement. “There is no governance token. Instead, the tbDEX protocol allows participants to negotiate trust directly with each other — or mutually and voluntarily rely on trusted third-parties to vouch for the counterparty.”

Transaction fees, the statement explained, would be determined by the free market, based on the amount of information each participant is willing to disclose. Therefore, complete anonymity would cost more than full disclosure of personal information.

“The tbDEX protocol also facilitates the secure exchange of the minimum necessary identity information acceptable to counterparties in order to satisfy requirements, be they legal, regulatory, or related to any other consideration of risk,” per the statement. “The protocol itself neither collects nor records any personally identifiable information.”

The tbDEX white paper has been released, containing more detailed information about the protocol’s inner workings and technicalities, and has also been published on GitHub, allowing interested developers to contribute.