> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.stacks.co/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.stacks.co/pox-5/actors/early-exit-signer-set.md).

# Early Exit Signer Set

Signers that co-sign pre-authorized native BTC early exits.

The [Early Exit signer set](/pox-5/glossary.md#early-exit-signer-set) co-signs pre-authorized [early-exit](/pox-5/glossary.md#early-exit) requests for native BTC [protocol bonds](/pox-5/glossary.md#protocol-bond). Exercising early exit unlocks the BTC path early but [forfeits remaining BTC yield](/pox-5/glossary.md#forfeiture-early-exit), while the [paired STX](/pox-5/glossary.md#paired-btc-and-paired-stx) remains locked through the [bonding period](/pox-5/glossary.md#bonding-period).

The early-exit signer set is the BTC-side predicate embedded in the lockup script's `OP_ELSE` branch — `early-unlock-bytes`, a pre-pushed subscript that validates the early-exit signature (the result is consumed by the shared `OP_VERIFY` after `OP_ENDIF`). In practice this is always a single cosigner public key with `OP_CHECKSIG` — one key managed by a redundant, KMS-backed early-exit signing service, not an on-chain multisig script. This is only one of two conditions on that branch: `staker-unlock-bytes` runs unconditionally after `OP_ENDIF`, so an off-cycle spend requires a signature satisfying `early-unlock-bytes` **and** the staker's own signature, plus the staker's 32-byte commitment preimage. On L2, [`announce-l1-early-exit`](/pox-5/glossary.md) is then called directly by the staker themselves so the contract zeros their shares; there is no separate stored L2 admin principal.


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