Bitcoin Exchange Boltz Releases BTCPay Server Plugin for Lightning Payments

Today, Boltz announced the release of the first-of-its-kind Boltz BTCPay Plugin in open beta. The plugin allows merchants using BTCPay Server to easily accept bitcoin via Lightning before automatically exchanging and storing it non-custodially in the Liquid Network.

The “Nodeless” mode for the Boltz BTCPay Plugin uses Liquid Swaps to automatically switch from Lightning to Liquid when a Lightning invoice is paid. Using Liquid Swaps, Boltz BTCPay Plugin users can also exchange bitcoin back to the mainchain if they prefer. The plugin comes with an integrated wallet system that allows users to create or import both Liquid and mainchain wallets.

“Merchants can receive or accept bitcoins by exchanging the received Lightning payments into their Liquid wallets and thus do not need to operate a node,” Kilian, CEO of Boltz, told Bitcoin Magazine.

“What I ultimately own is LBTC – Liquid BTC,” he added.

“We also want to give them the option to automatically switch back to the mainchain if they want to. They can say, “Okay, if my Liquid Bitcoin balance gets to 0.1 bitcoin, 0.5 bitcoin, switch it back to the mainchain.”

Traders remain in control of their funds at all times while using the service.

Boltz designed the plugin to help alleviate the anxiety that comes with running and managing a Lightning node.

“Running and managing a Lightning node is no easy task,” CTO Michael Boltz said in a press release. “Managing channels is complex and inbound liquidity can be such a foreign concept.”

Kilian echoed Michael’s sentiment as he shared that “running your own Lightning node is neither a realistic nor recommended goal for many people, and even professionals like traders, today.”

Previous solutions for accepting Lightning payments without running a node were custodial, introduced counterparty risk, or were only available in certain jurisdictions.

Given that this plugin is both brand new and the first of its kind, the team at Boltz noted that while the software is ready to use, users should proceed with caution as they may have still errors. Kilian said the plugin has indeed handled thousands of transactions and that Strainly, an online marijuana vendor, is now fully running on it.

“After a month of testing the Boltz plugin in front of thousands of users, I can say that this is truly a game changer,” said Alan, CEO of Strainly, which previously had mixed success using Lightning custodial solutions such as LNBank and other Lightning service providers. (LSPs) “Processing LN payments directly to and from a non-custodial Liquid wallet, plus automatically consolidating my Liquid balance into my non-custodial BTC wallet according to its own preset threshold: hands down, the most impactful plugin ever released on BTCPay!”