diff --git a/nodes/bitcoin-2.json b/nodes/bitcoin-2.json
index 38c758f..35ecb9d 100644
--- a/nodes/bitcoin-2.json
+++ b/nodes/bitcoin-2.json
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
       "kosmos-bitcoin::c-lightning",
       "kosmos-bitcoin::lnd",
       "kosmos-bitcoin::lnd-scb-s3",
-      "kosmos-bitcoin::boltz",
       "kosmos-bitcoin::rtl",
       "kosmos-bitcoin::peerswap-lnd",
       "kosmos_postgresql::hostsfile",
diff --git a/roles/lnd.rb b/roles/lnd.rb
index 982f9a7..c9e18ad 100644
--- a/roles/lnd.rb
+++ b/roles/lnd.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ name "lnd"
 run_list %w(
   kosmos-bitcoin::lnd
   kosmos-bitcoin::lnd-scb-s3
-  kosmos-bitcoin::boltz
   kosmos-bitcoin::rtl
   kosmos-bitcoin::peerswap-lnd
 )
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/attributes/default.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/attributes/default.rb
index 8883d71..e89b401 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/attributes/default.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/attributes/default.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-node.default['bitcoin']['version']   = '26.0'
-node.default['bitcoin']['checksum']  = 'ab1d99276e28db62d1d9f3901e85ac358d7f1ebcb942d348a9c4e46f0fcdc0a1'
+node.default['bitcoin']['version']   = '28.0'
+node.default['bitcoin']['checksum']  = '700ae2d1e204602eb07f2779a6e6669893bc96c0dca290593f80ff8e102ff37f'
 node.default['bitcoin']['username']  = 'satoshi'
 node.default['bitcoin']['usergroup'] = 'bitcoin'
 node.default['bitcoin']['network']   = 'mainnet'
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ node.default['bitcoin']['conf'] = {
   rpcbind: "127.0.0.1:8332",
   gen: 0,
   zmqpubrawblock: 'tcp://127.0.0.1:8337',
-  zmqpubrawtx: 'tcp://127.0.0.1:8338'
+  zmqpubrawtx: 'tcp://127.0.0.1:8338',
+  deprecatedrpc: 'warnings' # TODO remove when upgrading to LND 0.18.4
 }
 
 # Also enables Tor for LND
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ node.default['c-lightning']['log_level'] = 'info'
 node.default['c-lightning']['public_ip'] = '148.251.237.73'
 
 node.default['lnd']['repo'] = 'https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd'
-node.default['lnd']['revision'] = 'v0.17.3-beta'
+node.default['lnd']['revision'] = 'v0.18.3-beta'
 node.default['lnd']['source_dir'] = '/opt/lnd'
 node.default['lnd']['lnd_dir'] = "/home/#{node['bitcoin']['username']}/.lnd"
 node.default['lnd']['alias'] = 'ln2.kosmos.org'
@@ -58,19 +59,8 @@ node.default['lnd']['tor'] = {
   'skip-proxy-for-clearnet-targets' => 'true'
 }
 
-node.default['boltz']['repo'] = 'https://github.com/BoltzExchange/boltz-lnd.git'
-node.default['boltz']['revision'] = 'v1.2.7'
-node.default['boltz']['source_dir'] = '/opt/boltz'
-node.default['boltz']['boltz_dir'] = "/home/#{node['bitcoin']['username']}/.boltz-lnd"
-node.default['boltz']['grpc_host'] = '127.0.0.1'
-node.default['boltz']['grpc_port'] = '9002'
-node.default['boltz']['rest_disabled'] = 'false'
-node.default['boltz']['rest_host'] = '127.0.0.1'
-node.default['boltz']['rest_port'] = '9003'
-node.default['boltz']['no_macaroons'] = 'false'
-
 node.default['rtl']['repo'] = 'https://github.com/Ride-The-Lightning/RTL.git'
-node.default['rtl']['revision'] = 'v0.15.0'
+node.default['rtl']['revision'] = 'v0.15.2'
 node.default['rtl']['host'] = '10.1.1.163'
 node.default['rtl']['port'] = '3000'
 
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/aws-client.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/aws-client.rb
index 04e6d84..8debd9b 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/aws-client.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/aws-client.rb
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ credentials = Chef::EncryptedDataBagItem.load('credentials', 'backup')
 
 file "/root/.aws/config" do
   mode "600"
+  sensitive true
   content lazy { <<-EOF
 [default]
 region = #{credentials["s3_region"]}
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/bitcoind.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/bitcoind.rb
index a4991ff..ba76f8b 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/bitcoind.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/bitcoind.rb
@@ -12,8 +12,15 @@ if node["bitcoin"]["blocksdir_mount_type"]
   include_recipe "kosmos-bitcoin::blocksdir-mount"
 end
 
-%w{ libtool autotools-dev make automake cmake curl g++-multilib libtool
-    binutils-gold bsdmainutils pkg-config python3 patch }.each do |pkg|
+apt_repository "ubuntu-toolchain-r" do
+  # provides g++-13, needed for better c++-20 support
+  uri "ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test"
+end
+
+%w{
+  gcc-13 g++-13 libtool autotools-dev make automake cmake curl bison
+  binutils-gold pkg-config python3 patch
+}.each do |pkg|
   apt_package pkg
 end
 
@@ -26,20 +33,21 @@ end
 
 execute "compile_bitcoin-core_dependencies" do
   cwd "/usr/local/bitcoind/depends"
-  command "make NO_QT=1"
+  environment ({'CC' => 'gcc-13', 'CXX' => 'g++-13', 'NO_QT' => '1'})
+  command "make -j 2"
   action :nothing
   notifies :run, 'bash[compile_bitcoin-core]', :immediately
 end
 
 bash "compile_bitcoin-core" do
   cwd "/usr/local/bitcoind"
+  environment ({'CC' => 'gcc-13', 'CXX' => 'g++-13', 'NO_QT' => '1'})
   code <<-EOH
     ./autogen.sh
     ./configure --prefix=$PWD/depends/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
     make
   EOH
   action :nothing
-  notifies :restart, "systemd_unit[bitcoind.service]", :delayed
 end
 
 link "/usr/local/bin/bitcoind" do
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/boltz.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/boltz.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index e090703..0000000
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/boltz.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,87 +0,0 @@
-#
-# Cookbook:: kosmos-bitcoin
-# Recipe:: boltz
-#
-
-include_recipe "git"
-include_recipe "kosmos-bitcoin::golang"
-
-git node['boltz']['source_dir'] do
-  repository node['boltz']['repo']
-  revision node['boltz']['revision']
-  action :sync
-  notifies :run, 'bash[compile_and_install_boltz]', :immediately
-end
-
-bash "compile_and_install_boltz" do
-  cwd node['boltz']['source_dir']
-  code <<-EOH
-go mod vendor && \
-make build && \
-make install
-  EOH
-  action :nothing
-  notifies :restart, "systemd_unit[boltzd.service]", :delayed
-end
-
-bitcoin_user  = node['bitcoin']['username']
-bitcoin_group = node['bitcoin']['usergroup']
-boltz_dir     = node['boltz']['boltz_dir']
-lnd_dir       = node['lnd']['lnd_dir']
-
-directory boltz_dir do
-  owner bitcoin_user
-  group bitcoin_group
-  mode '0750'
-  action :create
-end
-
-template "#{boltz_dir}/boltz.toml" do
-  source "boltz.toml.erb"
-  owner bitcoin_user
-  group bitcoin_group
-  mode '0640'
-  variables lnd_grpc_host: '127.0.0.1',
-            lnd_grpc_port: '10009',
-            lnd_macaroon_path: "#{lnd_dir}/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon",
-            lnd_tlscert_path: "#{lnd_dir}/tls.cert",
-            boltz_config: node['boltz']
-  notifies :restart, "systemd_unit[boltzd.service]", :delayed
-end
-
-systemd_unit 'boltzd.service' do
-  content({
-    Unit: {
-      Description: 'Boltz Daemon',
-      Documentation: ['https://lnd.docs.boltz.exchange'],
-      Requires: 'lnd.service',
-      After: 'lnd.service'
-    },
-    Service: {
-      User: bitcoin_user,
-      Group: bitcoin_group,
-      Type: 'simple',
-      ExecStart: "/opt/boltz/boltzd",
-      Restart: 'always',
-      RestartSec: '30',
-      TimeoutSec: '240',
-      LimitNOFILE: '128000',
-      PrivateTmp: true,
-      ProtectSystem: 'full',
-      NoNewPrivileges: true,
-      PrivateDevices: true,
-      MemoryDenyWriteExecute: true
-    },
-    Install: {
-      WantedBy: 'multi-user.target'
-    }
-  })
-  verify false
-  triggers_reload true
-  action [:create, :enable, :start]
-end
-
-unless node.chef_environment == 'development'
-  node.override['backup']['archives']['boltz'] = [node['boltz']['boltz_dir']]
-  include_recipe 'backup'
-end
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/golang.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/golang.rb
index 3ac886b..23158fe 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/golang.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/golang.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # Internal recipe for managing the Go installation in one place
 #
 
-node.override['golang']['version'] = "1.20.3"
+node.override['golang']['version'] = "1.23.1"
 include_recipe "golang"
 
 link '/usr/local/bin/go' do
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/rtl.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/rtl.rb
index 42103d3..1321bb2 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/rtl.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/recipes/rtl.rb
@@ -46,24 +46,22 @@ rtl_config = {
   multiPassHashed: credentials["multiPassHashed"]
 }
 
-if node['boltz']
-  # TODO adapt for multi-node usage
-  rtl_config[:nodes][0][:Authentication][:boltzMacaroonPath] = "#{node['boltz']['boltz_dir']}/macaroons"
-  rtl_config[:nodes][0][:Settings][:boltzServerUrl] = "https://#{node['boltz']['rest_host']}:#{node['boltz']['rest_port']}"
-end
-
 git rtl_dir do
   user bitcoin_user
   group bitcoin_group
   repository node['rtl']['repo']
   revision node['rtl']['revision']
+  notifies :run, "execute[npm_install]", :immediately
   notifies :restart, "systemd_unit[#{app_name}.service]", :delayed
 end
 
-execute "npm install" do
+execute "npm_install" do
   cwd rtl_dir
   environment "HOME" => rtl_dir
   user bitcoin_user
+  # TODO remove --force when upstream dependency issues have been resolved
+  command "npm install --force"
+  action :nothing
 end
 
 file "#{rtl_dir}/RTL-Config.json" do
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/boltz.toml.erb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/boltz.toml.erb
deleted file mode 100644
index 33a8fa7..0000000
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/boltz.toml.erb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-[LND]
-# Host of the gRPC interface of LND
-host = "<%= @lnd_grpc_host %>"
-
-# Port of the gRPC interface of LND
-port = <%= @lnd_grpc_port %>
-
-# Path to a macaroon file of LND
-# The daemon needs to have permission to read various endpoints, generate addresses and pay invoices 
-macaroon = "<%= @lnd_macaroon_path %>"
-
-# Path to the TLS certificate of LND
-certificate = "<%= @lnd_tlscert_path %>"
-
-[RPC]
-# Host of the gRPC interface
-host = "<%= @boltz_config['grpc_host'] %>"
-
-# Port of the gRPC interface
-port = <%= @boltz_config['grpc_port'] %>
-
-# Whether the REST proxy for the gRPC interface should be disabled
-restDisabled = <%= @boltz_config['rest_disabled'] %>
-
-# Host of the REST proxy
-restHost = "<%= @boltz_config['rest_host'] %>"
-
-# Port of the REST proxy
-restPort = <%= @boltz_config['rest_port'] %>
-
-# Whether the macaroon authentication for the gRPC and REST interface should be disabled
-noMacaroons = <%= @boltz_config['no_macaroons'] %>
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/lnd.conf.erb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/lnd.conf.erb
index 3e43d01..f68473b 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/lnd.conf.erb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-bitcoin/templates/lnd.conf.erb
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ minchansize=<%= @lnd_minchansize %>
 autopilot.active=0
 
 [Bitcoin]
-bitcoin.active=1
 bitcoin.mainnet=1
 bitcoin.node=bitcoind
 bitcoin.basefee=<%= @lnd_basefee %>