Decentralized, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange Biaq has halted trading after finding a “critical” security vulnerability on its platform, and is advising users to not send any funds if they’re involved in any trades.
According to an announcement published on Bisq, a hotfix for the critical vulnerability is expected to come out in the next few hours but, until then, an alert key was used to “temporarily disable trading.” The exchange noted that users who do want to trade can still do so, but are advised against it for their own security:
To clear confusion: yes, Bisq is a proper distributed peer-to-peer network. So you can override the latest alert key functionality that blocks trading. But we highly discourage you from doing this for your own security.
Bisq added that given its security model users’ funds aren’t at risk because of the vulnerability. The exchange itself is an open-source, peer-to-peer application that lets users buy and sell crypto in exchange for fiat.
Peer-to-peer exchanges are popular in the cryptocurrency space as they add to a users’ privacy when transacting, while centralized exchanges have to check users’ identities to prevent money laundering and other illicit activities.
Other popular peer-to-peer exchanges include Hodl Hodl, which has even bypassed China’s Google firewall, and LocalBitcoins. LocalBitcoins is one of the most prominent exchanges in the space, but its volume dropped after being hacked last year by an “unauthorized source.”
Featured image via Pixabay.
