Boltz has shut down its non-custodial Bitcoin swap service until further notice, saying a rise in AI-assisted hacking attempts has made it unsafe to bring swaps back online. The company said it has seen a steady increase this year in automated probing of its infrastructure and concluded, after recent internal security scans, that it could not responsibly resume operations while fixes are still being deployed.
The pause affects Boltz’s core swap service, which is used to move Bitcoin and Bitcoin-based assets between the main Bitcoin network and other Bitcoin layers including the Lightning Network and Liquid Network. Boltz said user funds were never at risk because its swaps are non-custodial, and it added that its API will remain active so refunds can still be processed.
Service halted after repeated incidents
In a post on X on Monday, Boltz said it had dealt with several exploits over recent months. According to the company, each incident was contained, but the overall trend showed attackers improving and adapting more quickly than a team of its size could identify and patch vulnerabilities.
Boltz said the decision to keep swaps offline was reinforced by the findings of its own latest security scans. It described itself as being actively targeted by what appear to be multiple resourceful groups and said that, under those conditions, re-enabling swaps would not be responsible.
Company says funds remain protected
Boltz emphasized that no user funds have ever been at risk. It attributed that protection to the way its service is built: swaps are non-custodial and rely on advanced cryptography, meaning users keep control of their assets during the process rather than handing custody to the platform.
Even with the service paused, Boltz said its API will stay online to handle refunds. The company also said its support team remains reachable while the shutdown continues.
A wider security problem for smaller teams
Boltz’s pause points to a broader challenge for smaller development teams working on open-source crypto infrastructure. The company said what it is seeing represents a major shift for Bitcoin services built on open-source stacks, as attackers use automation to discover and refine exploits faster than defenders can respond manually.
That concern has also been raised elsewhere in the industry. In July, Solana Foundation chief information security officer Michael Coates told Cointelegraph that the sector needs automated defenses in the age of AI, arguing that human-only security operations can no longer scale to match machine-speed threats.
Others report a similar surge in exploits
Boltz is not the only crypto-related service to describe a sharp increase in attack activity. PayPerQ, an AI service that charges per prompt and accepts Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, said it has been dealing with exploit attempts every other week for several months and believes many of them may be AI-powered.
Those comments do not establish a direct link between the incidents affecting different platforms, but they add to a growing picture of operators facing faster and more persistent intrusion attempts. For Boltz, the next confirmed step is limited: refunds remain available through the API, support channels stay open, and the company has warned that swap services should not be expected to resume soon.
Source: cointelegraph.com