What Happened in #Lightning? A Year in Review
2025 was a breakout year for the Lightning Network!
Public capacity smashed its all-time high (~$500M). Institutional liquidity poured in, protocol upgrades landed, and real-world adoption accelerated.
Here’s the recap 🧵
1/ Record Capacity Surge
• Public LN capacity hit a new ATH: 5,799 BTC in December (per Amboss data).
• Major exchanges ( Binance, OKX, Kraken, Bitfinex) added massive liquidity.
• Reversed 2025 dips – institutional confidence is back!
2/ Key Metrics
• Nodes grew +2.55% YTD (dipped mid-year, then rebounded)
• Average channel size increased → larger payment capacity
• Lightning grew at low cost, channel fees stayed flat
• Healthier channel closures: mutual ↑, forced ↓
• Liquidity deepened, LINER is a more accurate yield indicator
The network strengthened, setting the stage for larger, higher-volume payments.
3/ Institutional Milestone: BitGo + Voltage
BitGo now enables Lightning payments directly from qualified custody. Fast BTC transfers for institutions without running nodes. Huge for mainstream adoption!
4/ Exchange & Fintech Integrations
• 15% of BTC withdrawals on Coinbase via Lightning
• Revolut (50M+ users) and SoFi announced plans for Lightning integration.
Everyday payments getting faster & cheaper.
5/ Lightning-Native Yield
• Block/Square earning 9.7% yield routing LN payments
• @Amboss released Rails - Productizing Lightning yield for payment integrators
Payments aren’t just fast, they can generate yield.
6/ Merchant Adoption
• Steak ’n Shake launched LN payments
• Global chains & pilots pushing real-world use
• Square enabled 4M merchants to accept Bitcoin
• Cash App expanded Lightning usage for P2P and withdrawals
All these cases reinforce the Lightning Network as a payment rail at scale!
7/ Cross-Asset Payments Upgrade
Multi-asset payments are coming to Bitcoin (hello stablecoins!) Laying rails on a secure layer.
Lightning Labs released Taproot Assets v0.7:
• Reusable addresses
• Auditable supplies
• Better reliability
8/ Stablecoins on Lightning
Tether co-led $8M round in Speed – bringing USDT on Lightning via Taproot Assets.
Solving fragmentation: stable value + Lightning speed on Bitcoin.
The future of global payments?
9/ Infrastructure Wins
• Breez_Tech’s SDK onboarded dozens of apps, including bridging to Spark stablecoins
• Voltage powering enterprise solutions
• BitGo enabling institutional Lightning payments
Infrastructure powering smoother Lightning integration for apps and institutions.
10/ These were our standout stories for 2025 showing powerful ecosystem upgrades and the growing maturity of Lightning.
We’re looking forward to a strong 2026 that solidifies Bitcoin as the payment system for the world.
11/ 2026 Outlook:
Multi-asset flows, trillions in volume potential, broader integrations.
Which Lightning milestone are you excited for in 2026? Reply or repost with your thoughts!
1/ Lightning Capacity ATH
More Bitcoin is moving onto the #LightningNetwork.
Capacity contracted in early 2025, then reversed in August to close the year at record highs.
Users continued committing BTC to Lightning, countering downward BTC price pressure.
2/ Lightning Increased Concentration
Early in 2025, the network pruned smaller, inactive channels.
While there were fewer connections, the average channel size grew, enabling larger payments.
Lightning is evolving from many small roads → fewer highways for higher throughput.
4/ Channel Closures Look Healthier
In 2025:
• Mutual closes grew modestly (healthy close)
• Force closes bursted then fell slightly
• Penalty closes were rare (only 7)
Pruning in action:
Forced closes involved smaller (and likely inactive) channels, preceding large channel opens (pruning)
Mutual closes indicate higher network and protocol stability.
With smarter channel openings (AI-optimized) and a mature protocol, force closes reduce over time.
5/ Cost-Conscious Network Growth
Lightning grew at low cost in 2025:
• Node operators deployed large amounts of capital
• Low on-chain fees supported these deployments
• Low setup costs enabled higher profit possibilities
Flat channel fees plus rising capacity signal a prudent network with maturing structure.
6/ Magma surged while LINER remained steady
Magma, the liquidity marketplace, grew more established in 2025, providing more liquidity pricing data to LINER:
• More decentralized liquidity
• Deeper market (60 BTC)
• Automated Liquidity
• Private channel purchases increased (incl. via Alby)
Marketplace volume made LINER a more accurate yield indicator.
7/ The node graph tells a story
Nodes grew +2.37% YTD, but the journey was notable:
• Early 2025: many channels were closed with a sharp decline of nodes around June/July
• Later in the year: larger capacity channels were opened
What do you think drove the 2025 node growth?
8/ The big picture
2025 laid the groundwork for scale.
• Bigger channels
• Healthier channel lifecycles
• Deeper liquidity markets
• Larger payment possibilities
The network strengthened its foundations amid rapid growth.
#LightningNetwork is maturing, now positioned for larger, higher-volume payments.
Explore the data behind this thread →
