Cypher Box software is open for auditing and it’s safe to the extent you know how to operate it. Your Lightning Account funds are not controlled by you but by an L2 custodian service provider. The Hot Vault is custodial and you own the key to it but you can never trust a an internet-connected phone for large amounts. The Cold Vault is the safest storage method and doesn’t require you to trust your phone, funds cannot be sent anywhere without an authorization from your hardware wallet device.

Cypher Box software is open for noncommercial use on Github. You are free to run, test, and pull from it.

Cypher Box takes zero service fees. However, the Lightning custodian may charge you for onchain Bitcoin Network service fees (i.e Coinos.io: 0.1% conversation fee, and near-zero lightning payments). This is subject to change.

Cypher Box is not a custodian. It provides a 3rd party API connection with  Lightning custodian. It also contains self-custodial storage modules (Vaults). You can withdraw to your self-custodial Vaults upon reaching an economic Withdrawal Threshold.

No, Cypher Box does not control or have access to your funds or transaction history. Cypher Box is merely a dashboard interface for your wallets. You control the keys to your Vaults. Be aware that your Checking Account is entirely managed by a Lightning custodian service provider. You can withdraw funds to your Vaults upon reaching an economic Withdrawal Threshold that you can adjust in the settings.

It’s not a good practice to withdraw Bitcoin immediately with low amounts (i.e below 100K sats). You should wait until your Checking Account balance is large enough to justify paying Bitcoin Network fees and be economically-spendable in the future. We recommend setting a withdrawal threshold that balances Bitcoin network fees against counter-party risk.

Read this guide on the cold wallet devices that we strongly recommend sorted by; security, ease-of-use, and price. This guide also comes with instructions, warnings, and video tutorials on how to operate them and connect them to Cypher Box.

Cypher Box is optimized for air-gapped Bitcoin-only PSBT-supported hardware wallets such as ColdCard, Keystone, Jade, Foundation Passport, and Seedsigner.

It’s your choice. Many users prefer to withdraw first to their Hot Vault to gather small capsules and fuse them into a single large capsule by taping ‘move to to Cold Vault’ when Bitcoin Network fees are low (consolidation). The Hot vault also helps you Top-up your Lightning Checking Account without moving your hardware wallet device. 

A Bitcoin UTXO Capsule is a verifiable chunk of a Bitcoin. Just as gold comes in the form of coins and bars, digital scarcity, comes in the shape of capsules that have many sizes. Typically, small capsules (i.e less than 100K sats) are not good to hold since spending them can be costly as Bitcoin Network fees are expected to increase in the future. However, holding all your Bitcoin in a single large capsule may also compromise privacy. Try to find your own strategy. A wise management and labelling of your capsules (by batching or splitting) helps balance fees, privacy, and usability.

Please login to your lightning service provider’s website (i.e Coinos.io on your web browser) and troubleshoot your account from there. This might be caused by an API error. You can report bugs here and we will fix it.