diff --git a/docs/release-notes/eclair-vnext.md b/docs/release-notes/eclair-vnext.md
index 8dcdec093..6b9a0b317 100644
--- a/docs/release-notes/eclair-vnext.md
+++ b/docs/release-notes/eclair-vnext.md
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@
 
 ## Major changes
 
+### Alternate strategy to avoid mass force-close of channels in certain cases
+
+The default strategy, when an unhandled exception or internal error happens, is to locally force-close the channel. Not only is there a delay before the channel balance gets refunded, but if the exception was due to some misconfiguration or bug in eclair that affects all channels, we risk force-closing all channels.
+
+This is why an alternative behavior is to simply log an error and stop the node. Note that if you don't closely monitor your node, there is a risk that your peers take advantage of the downtime to try and cheat by publishing a revoked commitment. Additionally, while there is no known way of triggering an internal error in eclair from the outside, there may very well be a bug that allows just that, which could be used as a way to remotely stop the node (with the default behavior, it would "only" cause a local force-close of the channel).
+
 ### Separate log for important notifications
 
 Eclair added a new log file (`notifications.log`) for important notifications that require an action from the node operator.
diff --git a/eclair-core/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/eclair-core/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 6184114cd..3ee73e2c7 100644
--- a/eclair-core/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/eclair-core/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -95,6 +95,16 @@ eclair {
   max-block-processing-delay = 30 seconds // we add a random delay before processing blocks, capped at this value, to prevent herd effect
   max-tx-publish-retry-delay = 60 seconds // we add a random delay before retrying failed transaction publication
 
+  // The default strategy, when we encounter an unhandled exception or internal error, is to locally force-close the
+  // channel. Not only is there a delay before the channel balance gets refunded, but if the exception was due to some
+  // misconfiguration or bug in eclair that affects all channels, we risk force-closing all channels.
+  // This is why an alternative behavior is to simply log an error and stop the node. Note that if you don't closely
+  // monitor your node, there is a risk that your peers take advantage of the downtime to try and cheat by publishing a
+  // revoked commitment. Additionally, while there is no known way of triggering an internal error in eclair from the
+  // outside, there may very well be a bug that allows just that, which could be used as a way to remotely stop the node
+  // (with the default behavior, it would "only" cause a local force-close of the channel).
+  unhandled-exception-strategy = "local-close" // local-close or stop
+
   relay {
     fees {
       // Fees for public channels
diff --git a/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/NodeParams.scala b/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/NodeParams.scala
index 37fff15cc..0de805f9c 100644
--- a/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/NodeParams.scala
+++ b/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/NodeParams.scala
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import fr.acinq.bitcoin.{Block, ByteVector32, Crypto, Satoshi}
 import fr.acinq.eclair.Setup.Seeds
 import fr.acinq.eclair.blockchain.fee._
 import fr.acinq.eclair.channel.Channel
+import fr.acinq.eclair.channel.Channel.UnhandledExceptionStrategy
 import fr.acinq.eclair.crypto.Noise.KeyPair
 import fr.acinq.eclair.crypto.keymanager.{ChannelKeyManager, NodeKeyManager}
 import fr.acinq.eclair.db._
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@ case class NodeParams(nodeKeyManager: NodeKeyManager,
                       relayParams: RelayParams,
                       reserveToFundingRatio: Double,
                       maxReserveToFundingRatio: Double,
+                      unhandledExceptionStrategy: UnhandledExceptionStrategy,
                       db: Databases,
                       revocationTimeout: FiniteDuration,
                       autoReconnect: Boolean,
@@ -357,6 +359,11 @@ object NodeParams extends Logging {
       PathFindingExperimentConf(experiments.toMap)
     }
 
+    val unhandledExceptionStrategy = config.getString("unhandled-exception-strategy") match {
+      case "local-close" => UnhandledExceptionStrategy.LocalClose
+      case "stop" => UnhandledExceptionStrategy.Stop
+    }
+
     val routerSyncEncodingType = config.getString("router.sync.encoding-type") match {
       case "uncompressed" => EncodingType.UNCOMPRESSED
       case "zlib" => EncodingType.COMPRESSED_ZLIB
@@ -423,6 +430,7 @@ object NodeParams extends Logging {
       ),
       reserveToFundingRatio = config.getDouble("reserve-to-funding-ratio"),
       maxReserveToFundingRatio = config.getDouble("max-reserve-to-funding-ratio"),
+      unhandledExceptionStrategy = unhandledExceptionStrategy,
       db = database,
       revocationTimeout = FiniteDuration(config.getDuration("revocation-timeout").getSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS),
       autoReconnect = config.getBoolean("auto-reconnect"),
diff --git a/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Channel.scala b/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Channel.scala
index a52a11219..c25dae5c1 100644
--- a/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Channel.scala
+++ b/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Channel.scala
@@ -127,6 +127,17 @@ object Channel {
   /** We don't immediately process [[CurrentBlockCount]] to avoid herd effects */
   case class ProcessCurrentBlockCount(c: CurrentBlockCount)
 
+  // @formatter:off
+  /** What do we do if we have a local unhandled exception. */
+  sealed trait UnhandledExceptionStrategy
+  object UnhandledExceptionStrategy {
+    /** Ask our counterparty to close the channel. This may be the best choice for smaller loosely administered nodes.*/
+    case object LocalClose extends UnhandledExceptionStrategy
+    /** Just log an error and stop the node. May be better for larger nodes, to prevent unwanted mass force-close.*/
+    case object Stop extends UnhandledExceptionStrategy
+  }
+  // @formatter:on
+
 }
 
 class Channel(val nodeParams: NodeParams, val wallet: OnChainChannelFunder, remoteNodeId: PublicKey, blockchain: typed.ActorRef[ZmqWatcher.Command], relayer: ActorRef, txPublisherFactory: Channel.TxPublisherFactory, origin_opt: Option[ActorRef] = None)(implicit ec: ExecutionContext = ExecutionContext.Implicits.global) extends FSM[ChannelState, ChannelData] with FSMDiagnosticActorLogging[ChannelState, ChannelData] {
@@ -1669,6 +1680,7 @@ class Channel(val nodeParams: NodeParams, val wallet: OnChainChannelFunder, remo
         case syncSuccess: SyncResult.Success =>
           var sendQueue = Queue.empty[LightningMessage]
           // normal case, our data is up-to-date
+
           if (channelReestablish.nextLocalCommitmentNumber == 1 && d.commitments.localCommit.index == 0) {
             // If next_local_commitment_number is 1 in both the channel_reestablish it sent and received, then the node MUST retransmit funding_locked, otherwise it MUST NOT
             log.debug("re-sending fundingLocked")
@@ -2288,7 +2300,8 @@ class Channel(val nodeParams: NodeParams, val wallet: OnChainChannelFunder, remo
 
   private def handleLocalError(cause: Throwable, d: ChannelData, msg: Option[Any]) = {
     cause match {
-      case _: ForcedLocalCommit => log.warning(s"force-closing channel at user request")
+      case _: ForcedLocalCommit =>
+        log.warning(s"force-closing channel at user request")
       case _ if msg.exists(_.isInstanceOf[OpenChannel]) || msg.exists(_.isInstanceOf[AcceptChannel]) =>
         // invalid remote channel parameters are logged as warning
         log.warning(s"${cause.getMessage} while processing msg=${msg.getOrElse("n/a").getClass.getSimpleName} in state=$stateName")
@@ -2308,7 +2321,31 @@ class Channel(val nodeParams: NodeParams, val wallet: OnChainChannelFunder, remo
         log.info(s"we have a valid closing tx, publishing it instead of our commitment: closingTxId=${bestUnpublishedClosingTx.tx.txid}")
         // if we were in the process of closing and already received a closing sig from the counterparty, it's always better to use that
         handleMutualClose(bestUnpublishedClosingTx, Left(negotiating))
-      case dd: HasCommitments => spendLocalCurrent(dd) sending error // otherwise we use our current commitment
+      case dd: HasCommitments =>
+        cause match {
+          case _: ChannelException =>
+            // known channel exception: we force close using our current commitment
+            spendLocalCurrent(dd) sending error
+          case _ =>
+            // unhandled exception: we apply the configured strategy
+            nodeParams.unhandledExceptionStrategy match {
+              case UnhandledExceptionStrategy.LocalClose =>
+                spendLocalCurrent(dd) sending error
+              case UnhandledExceptionStrategy.Stop =>
+                log.error("unhandled exception: standard procedure would be to force-close the channel, but eclair has been configured to halt instead.")
+                NotificationsLogger.logFatalError(
+                  s"""stopping node as configured strategy to unhandled exceptions for nodeId=$remoteNodeId channelId=${d.channelId}
+                     |
+                     |Eclair has been configured to shut down when an unhandled exception happens, instead of requesting a
+                     |force-close from the peer. This gives the operator a chance of avoiding an unnecessary mass force-close
+                     |of channels that may be caused by a bug in Eclair, or issues like running out of disk space, etc.
+                     |
+                     |You should get in touch with Eclair developers and provide logs of your node for analysis.
+                     |""".stripMargin, cause)
+                System.exit(1)
+                stop(FSM.Shutdown)
+            }
+        }
       case _ => goto(CLOSED) sending error // when there is no commitment yet, we just send an error to our peer and go to CLOSED state
     }
   }
diff --git a/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Helpers.scala b/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Helpers.scala
index 497bbd767..fbbea6eb7 100644
--- a/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Helpers.scala
+++ b/eclair-core/src/main/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/channel/Helpers.scala
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ object Helpers {
       case class LocalLateUnproven(ourRemoteCommitmentNumber: Long, theirLocalCommitmentNumber: Long) extends Failure
       case class RemoteLying(ourLocalCommitmentNumber: Long, theirRemoteCommitmentNumber: Long, invalidPerCommitmentSecret: PrivateKey) extends Failure
       case object RemoteLate extends Failure
-  }
+    }
     // @formatter:on
 
     /**
diff --git a/eclair-core/src/test/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/TestConstants.scala b/eclair-core/src/test/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/TestConstants.scala
index daf8ab41d..832959837 100644
--- a/eclair-core/src/test/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/TestConstants.scala
+++ b/eclair-core/src/test/scala/fr/acinq/eclair/TestConstants.scala
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import fr.acinq.bitcoin.{Block, ByteVector32, Satoshi, SatoshiLong, Script}
 import fr.acinq.eclair.FeatureSupport.{Mandatory, Optional}
 import fr.acinq.eclair.Features._
 import fr.acinq.eclair.blockchain.fee._
+import fr.acinq.eclair.channel.Channel.UnhandledExceptionStrategy
 import fr.acinq.eclair.channel.LocalParams
 import fr.acinq.eclair.crypto.keymanager.{LocalChannelKeyManager, LocalNodeKeyManager}
 import fr.acinq.eclair.io.{Peer, PeerConnection}
@@ -143,6 +144,7 @@ object TestConstants {
           feeProportionalMillionths = 30)),
       reserveToFundingRatio = 0.01, // note: not used (overridden below)
       maxReserveToFundingRatio = 0.05,
+      unhandledExceptionStrategy = UnhandledExceptionStrategy.LocalClose,
       db = TestDatabases.inMemoryDb(),
       revocationTimeout = 20 seconds,
       autoReconnect = false,
@@ -269,6 +271,7 @@ object TestConstants {
           feeProportionalMillionths = 30)),
       reserveToFundingRatio = 0.01, // note: not used (overridden below)
       maxReserveToFundingRatio = 0.05,
+      unhandledExceptionStrategy = UnhandledExceptionStrategy.LocalClose,
       db = TestDatabases.inMemoryDb(),
       revocationTimeout = 20 seconds,
       autoReconnect = false,