Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream has announced the launch of Blockstream Swaps, a new feature enabling users to perform trustless swaps between the Bitcoin main chain and the Lightning Network.

The service allows Bitcoin users to move funds across network layers without relinquishing control of their assets. According to Blockstream, users will not need to run a Lightning node or manage payment channels — the typical requirements for using Lightning — and can instead hold a Bitcoin or LBTC balance that is converted via a swap at the time of payment. LBTC is the native asset of the Liquid Network, a Bitcoin layer-2 sidechain developed by Blockstream. Lowering this technical barrier matters because Lightning's growth has been constrained by the operational complexity of channel management, which has limited participation primarily to technically proficient users and businesses rather than everyday consumers.

"In support of the broader Bitcoin and Liquid ecosystem, Blockstream is launching Blockstream Swaps," the company said. "This initiative was already under development to ensure a resilient suite of utility for the ecosystem, and it complements the providers already doing this work rather than replacing any one of them."

The announcement comes shortly after non-custodial Bitcoin swap provider Boltz suspended its service. Boltz stated that attackers were discovering vulnerabilities in its system faster than its team could address them, citing a surge in AI-assisted attacks that made it unsafe to continue operating. Boltz's exit underscored the fragility of the non-custodial swap ecosystem, where even privacy-preserving, trustless infrastructure faces sustained pressure from increasingly sophisticated threat actors.

The broader cryptocurrency sector has seen a rise in hacks, with security experts warning that cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to identify bugs in crypto projects and exploit errors that auditors may have overlooked.

The Lightning Network is Bitcoin's most prominent layer-2 scaling solution, designed to enable faster and cheaper transactions by processing them off-chain. The Liquid Network, another Blockstream creation, functions as a Bitcoin sidechain that enables faster settlement and the issuance of digital assets. Both networks address Bitcoin's core throughput limitations but have historically operated with limited interoperability without intermediary swap services.

Blockstream Swaps enters the ecosystem as a complementary tool alongside existing swap providers, rather than a replacement, the company emphasized.