Exchange · noncustodial-swap

Boltz

What it is. A non-custodial, no-KYC atomic-swap service — the standout agent-native option. Swaps settle via shared-preimage HTLCs (either both legs settle or both refund), so the agent never gives up custody and no account or identity is required.

What it bridges. Bitcoin across L1, Lightning, Liquid, and Rootstock (internal-substrate moves), and Lightning ↔ USDT/USDC — the cross-asset swaps that make it an exchange path, not just substrate tooling. (Its pure BTC L1↔Lightning swaps are the infrastructure aspect — see its tools card.)

Agent access. REST API + boltzd built for automated workflows — create swaps, poll status, retrieve history programmatically. No account, no KYC keys to delegate; the agent acts on its own wallet.

How an agent uses it. From its own wallet, call the API to create a swap (e.g. Lightning sats → USDT), pay the swap invoice, receive the output to a self-custody address. No onboarding step.

Infrastructure (the stablecoin path). BTC ↔ Lightning ↔ Liquid ↔ Rootstock are direct atomic swaps. The two stablecoins now differ in how they settle. USDC is native, via Circle’s CCTP (live since May 2026) — no wrapping and no third-party bridge — deliverable across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon. USDT settles as USDT0 (LayerZero omnichain Tether, liquidity concentrated on Arbitrum) over a multi-hop path: Lightning → tBTC (atomic Boltz leg) → USDT0 via a Uniswap-style DEX swap, stitched into one irreversible transaction by a Router contract, with gas abstracted (no ETH needed). USDT0 can then bridge to other chains.

Dependencies. A self-custody wallet on the rails you’re swapping between (Lightning, on-chain BTC, Liquid, or the stablecoin chains) and the REST API / boltzd; no account, no KYC. No fiat path — value goes crypto-in, crypto-out — and the stablecoin leg pulls in extra dependencies (tBTC, a DEX, USDT0; see below).

Gotchas. Non-custodial is not dependency-free. The USDT path leans on tBTC (a wrapped-BTC bridge, Threshold), an on-chain DEX (liquidity/slippage), and USDT0/LayerZero (omnichain-bridge risk) — on top of the USDT issuer’s freeze surface. The USDC path (native via CCTP) avoids the wrapping and DEX hops, but the dollar token is still issuer-freezable and CCTP is a Circle-operated mechanism. The atomic guarantee protects custody (you don’t lose funds to Boltz), not the asset’s censorship-resistance or those external bridges’ soundness. The pure BTC↔Lightning↔Liquid↔Rootstock swaps carry none of that — they’re the cleanest use. No fiat; no support line; non-custodial means no recourse if you misconfigure.

Links. boltz.exchange · API docs api.docs.boltz.exchange.