Exchange · noncustodial-swap

RailsX

What it is. Amboss’s Lightning-native, peer-to-peer decentralized exchange — unveiled 2026-01-23 at the PlanB Forum and live since 2026-04-28 — executing bitcoin ↔ stablecoin trades entirely over the Lightning Network, with no separate chain and no custodial order book.

What it bridges. Bitcoin ↔ USDT-L / USDC-L — stablecoins wrapped on Taproot Assets (built and deployed by Speed, not issued natively on Lightning by Tether or Circle). A trade starts in a bitcoin Lightning channel, routes through the network, and completes in a Taproot Asset channel denominated in the stablecoin; because the payment is atomic end to end, the swap is atomic too.

How it works. Trades execute as circular self-payments: funds route out through existing Lightning channels, swap atomically, and loop back to the sender — so either the swap completes or it doesn’t, with no custody handover in between.

Agent access. No public trading API is documented. Access is through Thunderhub — Amboss’s stated delivery vehicle: “To access RailsX Trading, update Thunderhub to the latest version and connect litd.” Trading runs inside the node interface an operator already runs, with no separate install, which makes it scriptable by whoever drives Thunderhub but not a programmatic endpoint. Carded for reference; it sits below the directory’s machine-actionable bar until a documented API exists.

Custody. Self-custodial / Lightning-native — you trade from your own channels, not a venue-held balance.

Dependencies. A Lightning node running Thunderhub with litd connected, Lightning capacity to route the swap, and a Taproot Asset channel for the stablecoin leg. Verify supported pairs, fees, and regional availability on the venue.

Gotchas. The atomic Lightning execution protects custody (you don’t hand funds to a counterparty mid-swap) — it does not make the stablecoin legs censorship-resistant: USDT/USDC remain issuer-freezable by Tether/Circle. There is a third party in the stablecoin leg beyond the issuer: USDT-L and USDC-L are Speed’s Taproot-Assets wrappers, so the wrapper is a dependency on top of Tether’s and Circle’s freeze surface. Live since April 2026; no public API; confirm pairs, fees, and availability before relying on it.

Links. RailsX launch post · the January unveiling · amboss.tech. (Amboss’s site has no RailsX product page — it is absent from the nav, footer, products list and sitemap; these two posts are the only primary pages, and railsx.io serves an empty redirect stub.)