UPDATE ON THE FUTURE OF BOLTZ ๐ข
Over the past couple of months, AI-assisted attackers have been targeting Boltz with increasing frequency, intensity and sophistication. Several of these attacks succeeded, but because Boltz is non-custodial, user funds were never at risk. The entirety of the risk was ours, and as a result of the losses incurred, on August 3rd we made the difficult decision to suspend the service to prevent further damage.
While working on a plan to bring Boltz back over the past days, we had to accept one painful insight: as a bootstrapped five-person startup, we simply don't have the resources to withstand the current level of attacks in the long run.
Today, we are happy to announce that a group of veteran Bitcoiners came forward to help, bringing the capital and engineering power the project needs. They have agreed to take over Boltz and continue the service. Work to find and fix the vulnerabilities is already under way, with the goal of bringing swaps back as soon as possible.
As we want to give them the freedom to introduce themselves in their own time, we are not attaching any names today.
All original founders of Boltz have stepped down from the company, effective immediately. None of us will have any formal or authoritative role with the Boltz project going forward, and any future open-source participation by us is strictly on a voluntary basis.
We are grateful for the community's support all these years, for the patience and understanding of our integrators affected by the disruption of our service, and to everyone who reached out offering support over the past week.
It was a hell of a ride, and we are proud of our contributions to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Godspeed to the new Boltz team as they navigate these perilous times. We know Boltz is in good hands.
- Kilian, Michael & Karl
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Replies (61)
What could possibly go wrong?
So you sold the company?
Good luck in future endeavors
Sad
all the best for you guys!
Love your work team boltz !
let's see where the new leaders take it. I didn't want to see a complete shutdown
I suspect the canary warrant lapse had something to do with it in addition to AI attacks. I expect the new service will have more regulatory compliance "features"
Thank you for everything boltz! Great team!! Great service! Sucks it ended this way. Wishing you all the best
Incredibly obvious deep state takeover
Youโre all legends. @Kilian, I hope our paths cross again soon, and canโt wait to see what you do next.
A late warrant canary, a shut down, a new team ๐ค
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Non-custodial solutions like Boltz embody self-ownership, as users retain control over their assets, echoing Epictetus' wisdom: "no one is free who is not master of himself."
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Its sounds like something bad, not really sure how Boltz is going to move forward, with a whole new team, once the core is gone. Good luck to you guysโฆ.
Thank you for the incredible service you have provided over the years
Wow. Thank you for your service and I look forward to the new future of Boltz <3
Prayers and best wishes to you and the team ๐๐ผ๐ซก thank you on behalf of our community in Paraguay ๐ต๐พ
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Boltz under siege by AI attacks, how convenient for the narrative. Sounds like a Klaus Schwab wet dream, pretext to further centralize control.
Why did they all walk awayโฆ
Shotgun kyc incoming
Probablyโฆ
we don't need boltz. we need a simple sidechain primitive
Sad but true
Definitely seems probable

Like Liquid?
Channel splicing for LND would be nice.
Are you all being held hostage in Andy Backs basement?
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โโฆand as a result of the losses incurredโฆโ
Thank you for the favor of an explanation. This cannot have been easy. My best wishes and hopes for a sustainable future for for and yours. Thank you for your service.
Okay, comments people โ we all realize this means Boltz is dead now, and we're not going to use them in the future, right?
Their canary went off and now their staff is mystery wiped. It doesn't take a genius ๐คฆ๐ป
the whole concept of boltz existing at all is completely asinine. you don't want ANY architecture that allows for things to be completely shut off. boltz was solving a manufactured problem in an effort to pretend that lightning and liquid are viable technology.
rare instance of ideological alignment between us
So we can enjoy the irony? : )
boltz is dead, yes


Lightning is gay
I don't like centralized solutions and them stopping it with a flick of a switch ... not very convincing lets say to put your money in ... or one just accepts its like a bank server with full control
Thank you for your service and hope y'all are well. Sad to see you go. On the bright side I don't think you'd say Boltz is in safe hands if it wasn't.
though the canary expiry snafu and sudden departure makes me somewhat uneasy.
Itโs been a great project to watch and use. You guys built something excellent. Hope you are all stepping down on good terms and have other interesting projects ahead. Thanks for what you built. Seems like a big sudden change, cest la vie I guess.
๐ฆthe canary is dead!
Thank you for your service ๐ซก
I hope these anon devs are trustworthy.
Look into drivechains, a interesting proposal to do just that
Interessting that the best posts getting reported and by whom...
what does it mean that warrant canary expires?
100% so is boltz still useful now or we need to wait?
Was the new canary installed by the old or the new team? At this point I would only trust "old team" if it was signed by one of their known keys. Else ... what's the accountability of an anonymous team?
Warrant canaries are a legal work-around for gag-orders. If a court orders you to maintain silent about something, you can't warn your service's users about that but nobody can prevent you from publishing that you had not ordered to be silent about anything prior to the fact, so some companies put out such a document called a warrant canary. To not renew it means you would have to lie to renew it and a court can't compel you to lie. They can compel you to not remove the canary though, so ... it expiring is as much of a signal you might get if something shady is going on.
keep building!
Never give up ๐ซก
@Boltz - Non-Custodial Bitcoin Exchange the line that matters here is that the losses were yours and never the users. non custodial meant the blast radius stopped at the company.
for privacy you're hosed but maybe it's non custodial enough that you don't need to trust them with your money
Was last signed on 2026-08-05 and says canary updated every 60-days.
Canary - Boltz Exchange
Boltz is a non-custodial Bitcoin bridge built to swap between different Bitcoin layers while staying in full control
Appreciate the great service that you offered. The v2 API was especially slick.
I can't help but be intrigued by:
- Vague "AI-assisted attacks"
- Unnamed new owners (who would normally want the previous founders around for a handover)
- Clean legal split from the company in terms of authority/liability
- The Warrant Canary (https://canary.boltz.exchange) โ last renewed 2026-08-05, signed by Michael's key, ~6 days after its 60-day window from the 2026-05-31 canary expired. Next renewal due early October, after all founders have left. Who signs it then, and with what key?
I guess we need to find a decentralised way to do this moving forward.
View quoted note โ
Could have been the new team with the old teams key or the new team under duress. It wasnโt renewed within the 60 days and in that case it says we are to โassume the worstโ
This is what I mean when I say "Capital is eating software".
Software as a tool to innovate and resist is under threat from only being possible if the developers have capital.
Huge concerns here.