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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
• nostr:nprofile1qqsz4uq7p44arw0mh83agv2h6ezep7e8mnau403g0p99svhp00hms7cpzemhxue69uhkummnw3ezumtfd3hh2tnvdakz7qgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctcfs9cxu 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!
Discussion
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