While there are real challenges, the fact remains that Lightning already achieves much of what it set out to do: fast, cheap, and (crucially) non-custodial payments at scale.

Massive scaling headroom, new tools such as channel factories and liquidity marketplaces are reducing capital lock-up and streamlining onboarding for both users and businesses

Its problems are being actively worked on, with meaningful progress and enthusiastic open-source development. The network’s strengths — scalability, decentralization, privacy, and new market possibilities — have already changed how global Bitcoin transactions work.