Name of the Company: Boltz
Founders: Kilian Michael
Date founded: Project started in 2019 and incorporated in 2023| Incorporated in 2023
The location of the headquarters: Remote | Incorporated in El Salvador
Bitcoins held by the Treasury BTC is 100% of the Treasury
The number of employees: 5
Website: https://boltz.exchange/
Is it Public or Private? You can also contact us by email.
Swapping sats Boltz simplifies the process of navigating between Bitcoin layers.
Boltz It is an exchange without custody that allows users to send bitcoins between the Bitcoin chain and the Bitcoin network. Lightning Network Then, there is the Liquid Network.
Boltz was created out of necessity to help the Lightning Network in the early stages.
Boltz’s History
“Boltz as an idea started in 2018,” Kilian spoke to Bitcoin Magazine.
“I was working on a Lightning-based decentralized exchange and realized pretty quickly that it was very tough to keep Lightning channels balanced,” He added.
“Boltz was really born as a band-aid to fix this, a service provider that would take care of your Lightning channel balances and keep them balanced for you.”
Kilian, his team and the Boltz project were clear that Boltz had to adhere to the Bitcoin decentralization ethos.
Boltz launched its mainnet in April 2019, but only allowed Bitcoin base-chain to Lightning Swaps until the beginning of 2023. This is when Kilian, and Michael Boltz, Boltz’s co-founder realized Boltz required more attention.
“We saw it organically growing and we felt that it deserved more,” Kilian, said
“We decided in early 2023 to go in full time and that the next major feature would be Liquid Swaps, which we then launched in May 2023,” He added.
Kilian (left) and Michael (right) turned Boltz, the passion project it was up to that time, into a business. As a result, they had to deal with some growing-pains as they tried to attract a whole new audience.
Liquid Swaps
“In 2023, when we started Liquid Swaps, we targeted more professional users, specifically for the channel rebalance use case in a fee sensitive [environment],” Explained Kilian “We launched it during the fee spike in May 2023.”
Kilian was referring to the fee hike that resulted from the introduction Ordinals Bitcoin is a base-chain. Bitcoin transaction costs had reached their highest levels by the end of April 2023.
When fees reached 500-600 sats/vByte and transaction fees were over $100 for some transactions, the situation began to worsen. Even Boltz was feeling the pressure.
“We had to shut down Boltz for three or four days,” Kilian has been recalled.
“Boltz was not available because we had all our working capital locked up in the mempool and we were not able to pump it out because fees kept on rising. A lot of similar services had this problem,” “He added.”
Kilian then noted that Liquid could be a viable solution for many of the companies in this position.
“If you imagine the typical use case of getting inbound liquidity on Lightning, you can do so multiple times with Liquid,” Explained Kilian
“You send out via Lightning, thus getting inbound liquidity, and get Liquid LBTC back. This really made a lot of sense to users when we launched it. The launch was successful, [and we] breathed a little bit of life into the Liquid ecosystem,” “He added.”
Kilian said that Boltz’s swap service also underpins Aqua WalletA wallet which allows Liquid-to-Lightning swaps became very popular by mid-2023.
Boltz — Behind the Scenes
Boltz’s use in the background of Aqua is not unique among Bitcoin products.
Breez WalletThe first Bitcoin wallet to use Boltz’s exchange service was.
“Sometimes Breez users want to send to an on-chain regular Bitcoin address because the merchant only accepts on-chain,” Kilian, said “So, Breez integrated our open, publicly-available API in order to offer these swaps directly within the app.”
Breez Wallet allows users to purchase on-chain using Lightning. They simply scan a Bitcoin QR code, and Boltz will perform the Bitcoin swap.
Boltz is planning to move, Kilian stated. work There are more and more firms that provide its services behind-the-scenes.
“It’s crucial for great UX that users do not have to open our website but can stay in whatever product/wallet they [are using] and move their bitcoin between layers right where they are,” Kilian said. “Our non-custodial API is something we pioneered and we are very proud of.”
How Boltz Works — Atomic Swaps
According to Kilian, creating a non-custodial service — especially one that integrates well with other non-custodial services — was not an easy task.
Kilian Boltz and his team were determined to keep the service as non-custodial, partly because they did not want to become regulated for being an entity which holds user funds, and partially because users didn’t trust them to carry out the transaction.
“You do not want to trust a random website, a random project that you find on the internet,” Explained Kilian
“We also want to be available to users that say, ‘Okay, I don’t know them necessarily, but I hear these guys saying it’s non-custodial. Probably some technical person checked that it’s actually non-custodial, so I’m going to give it a shot,'” He added.
Boltz’s key feature that allows it to operate as a non-custodial service is its Atomic Swap. Boltz uses a subcategory within Atomic Swap known as the Submarine Swap.
Submarine Swaps employ hash time-locked contracts (HTLC)This technology, in plain English, allows for two simultaneous transactions (both ends of the swap), by linking them cryptographically together inside of a Smart Contract. With this technology, it is impossible for two transactions to take place at the same time.
The most reliable solution for moving bitcoin layers between sats is this.
Boltz has taken this technology on the road in recent months. next When it is enabled Taproot SwapsIt has also made it easier to refund failed Lightning transactions.
“Until January, when a swap to a Lightning invoice or to a Lightning destination failed, you had to wait until you could get your refund back,” Kilian, said
“That’s a drawback and just bad UX in the end. With Taproot, there’s a new way you can spend coins. It’s called ‘key path.’ And with this key path spent, basically what we could do is we could issue refunds immediately,” He added.
Kilian also added that Taproot Swaps enhance privacy as they do not reveal anything about swapping on the chain.
“If a chain observer is looking at the chain, one cannot tell that this is part of an Atomic Swap or even a Boltz swap,” Explained Kilian “There’s no way to do that.”
You can also find out more about the A-Team here. “Privacy-Respecting” The solution is to use
Kilian said that “P” word — privacy — I inquired as to whether or not he was worried that Boltz might end up in the crosshairs of the authorities, especially in the wake of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) pressing charges Samourai Wallet developers are being sued.
“I’d be lying if I’d be saying we’re not worried at all because everyone is worried and everyone was very worried, especially in the first couple of days after the Samourai incident happened,” Responded Kilian
Boltz, however, is not an actual privacy solution. “privacy-respecting” solution.
We are not to be compared in any way with other companies. coinjoin Or with a privacy-enhancing solution you use,” Kilian said.
“When you do a swap on Boltz, there’s minimum one party that has the information of incoming and outgoing payments — and that is us. You shouldn’t trust us to not reveal this information one day,” He added.
“That being said, we are respecting privacy in the sense that we are not requiring more information than is strictly necessary — the destination address or the destination invoice — in order to do this work. We do not need your email address. We also do not need your IP address. And you can access our service via Tor.”
Boltz: The Future of Boltz
Boltz has a major role that Kilian wants him to take on in the future.
“Our vision really is to be the bridge between the Bitcoin layers,” “He said”
“We’re seeing Bitcoin layer 2 sidechains, different sorts of layers are gaining traction, and this box won’t just close. This is unstoppable now, and we want to be the place that connects these layers,” He added.
Kilian also stressed that Lightning would continue to remain Boltz’s main focus, as it is his favorite game. “connecting tissue” between Bitcoin layers. Boltz launched recently a new software client to automate the rebalancing of Lightning nodes.
Kilian Boltz and his team will not only continue to iterate on their best practices, but also keep an eye out for any new opportunities.
Kilian has repeatedly stated that Boltz will remain focused on its core values, whatever the future may hold. “the easiest place with the best UX to non-custodially move [sats] in between Bitcoin layers.”
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Source: bitcoinmagazine.com