KIND OF A BITTERSWEET "END OF AN ERA" MOMENT FOR ME TODAY WHEN I SLEEPILY FOLLOWED MY MORNING HABIT OF CHECKING MY BITCOIN LIGHTNING NETWORK ROUTING NODE FOR HEALTH AND ROUTING FEES EARNED - FORGETTING I HAD JUST SPENT THE LAST FEW DAYS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF LOW ONCHAIN FEES TO CLOSE EVERYTHING DOWN AND RETURN ALL BITCOIN TO COLD STORAGE.
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2018, I HAVE ZERO LIGHTNING NODES. THANKS FOR THE EXPERIMENT, LIGHTNING! YOU WERE INTERESTING, AND FRUSTRATING.
Interesting and frustrating is a perfect way to put it š I breathed a sigh of relief when I shut mine down after about a year. Learned a lot but it was overkill and too stressful and expensive for my lightning needs.
Can you share how much did you earn from it over the years and how much you spent?
EARNINGS: BALLPARK, ABOUT 250K SATS
EXPENSES: EASILY LOST 4-5X THAT AMOUNT FROM FORCE CHANNEL CLOSINGS ALONE OVER THE YEARS. NOT TO MENTION THE TIME AND AGGRAVATION FROM SEVERAL MULTIDAY EPISODES OF TROUBLESHOOTING DURING OUTAGES / PROBLEMS KEEPING THE NODE ITSELF OPERATIONAL.
OVERALL A HUGE NEGATIVE ROI. EDUCATIONAL THO.
No one appreciates lightning node operators.
So you lost a total of ~250 USD in value from running a node for a couple years?
Honestly, this seems like a rounding error to me.
Iām in a similar situation. The dollar value may be a rounding error, the time spent on maintenance is a sunk cost.
