Bitcoin has scaling issues. It’s almost design at this point. Not sure there was a vision in the very early days when the network was started, but after the block wars of 2017, the path has been chosen. The path is small blocks on layer one, limiting the amount of data that can be stored and transacted on the network. The scaling solutions for Bitcoin are now left to Layer 2s.
The Lightning Network is one of those solutions. It is not the only one though. There are other solutions like Liquid, Fedimint, Drivechains etc. Even Hive can be a scaling solution for BTC if we implement a sufficient enough integration with it.
Here we will be looking at the data for the Lightning network. A short explanation from ChatGPT:
The lightning network operates through the creation of payment channels between users, which allow for transactions to occur off the main blockchain. These transactions are only settled on the blockchain when the channels are closed, reducing the burden on the network and enabling the consolidation of many transactions into one. This system relies on smart contracts to ensure the security and fulfillment of transactions without the need for third-party intermediaries
In theory everyone can run a lightning node, there is now a custom Raspberry Pi that does this. The process starts with opening a channel to another wallet that is on chain transaction with fees. But after the channel is created the two wallets can transfer sats for a tiny fee of usually one sat per transaction (0.0001 USD currently). You can open a channel to some of the major nodes that are connected to a lot of the other nodes and indirectly have access to all those nodes. No need to open multiply channels if you are an individual.
Building the lightning network is a slow process, nodes are opened one by one, as well as channels. This takes time.
Here we will be looking at:
- Number of nodes
- Number of channels
- BTC balance on lightning
- Number of channels per node
- Capacity per node
- Top lightning nodes
- Transactions
The data is collected from sources like bitcoinvisuals.com, 1ml.com, lightningnetwork.plus etc.
Bitcoin Fees
Before going into the data on the lightning network lets take a look at the fees on the Bitcoin base chain.
Fees are what is making users use L2 solutions. When they are high users avoid transacting on the base chain. It also makes no sense for everyday use like buying coffee with Bitcoin.
We can see that after the spikes in 2024 there is a drop in the fees and in the last months, they are at all time low. This can be a contributor for users to use the L1 more and drop the usage of the lightning network.
Number of Lightning Nodes
Here is the chart for the historical data for the number of lightning nodes.
This chart shows the number of nodes with and without channels.
We can see that since its launch in 2018 the number of lightning nodes have grown up to 2022. They have grown more aggressive in 2020 and 2021 reaching an ATH of 20k nodes at the end of 2021. Then in 2022 there was a sharp drop to around 17k, since then the number of lighting nodes has remained constant around that number for two years. A small increase in 2024 and a drop since then to around 15k nodes where we are now.
As mentioned, running a node is quite easy for a little bit technical people. You can do it on a small home computer or Raspberry or choose some cloud provider.
Number of Channels
Each node can open multiple channels to other nodes, meaning the number of channels is greater than the number of nodes. The more channels the better the network is interconnected. Here is the chart.
This chart follows the node chart to some extent with more aggressive numbers. The number of channels has grown aggressively in the 2020-2021 period, reached and ATH to 84k, and started going down in 2022. It has been mostly a downtrend since then, with occasional increase and we are now at 50k channels.
BTC Balance on Lightning
When a node is created and channels open, they are usually funded with Bitcoin transferred from layer 1 to lightning. Each channel has some amount of Bitcoin on it. The collective amount of Bitcoin on all the Lightning channels represents how much BTC is transferred to the network. This is usually referred as lightning capacity.
Here is the chart.
The chart above has the info for BTC and USD value.
In terms of USD value, the lightning network has recently reached an ATH, at the end of 2024 with 500M USD value stored on it, and in the recent period it has come close again to this number, as more BTC was deposited in the very last days.
Currently there is 4.8k BTC and 400M in USD value.
In terms of share of the total supply this is a relatively low number to 0,024%.
Number of Channels per Node
How many channels each node has opened? Here is the chart.
We can see that in the beginning the number of channels per node has grown to 20 channels per node. This is due to the fact that at the beginning there were not a lot of nodes. As the network grew, the number of channels per node dropped, since some of the nodes don’t have opened channels, or have just one channel. In the last years the number of channels per node has slowly going down and now we are at the 6 channels.
Capacity/Balance per Node
Each node funds its channels with Bitcoin/Sats. Here is the chart.
This is the average amount of SATS per nodes.
As we can see there has been a sharp increase in the beginning to 50M stats per node, then a drop towards 20M stats per node and a growth since 2022. Interestingly, the amount of average SATS per node has increased in the bear market, probably due to more node shutting down in the bear market, leaving only the well-funded nodes.
In the very last period the capacity per node has spiked to a new ATH and is around 72M SATS per node, and dropped back to 65M.
Top Lightning Nodes
Which lightning nodes hold the most BTC. Here is the chart.
The Bitfinex nodes are on the top here, followed by the LNBIG nodes. Binance, OKX, Kraken also in the top, and we can see now Block there as well.
Block has been integrating more payment options via the lighting node so that might have increased its capacity.
The top node runners are between 200 to 300 BTC in their nodes, or from around 20M USD.
Bitcoin base-layer fees have fallen to very low levels, while Lightning still holds meaningful capacity. The network has declined from its 2021–2022 peaks, with nodes now around 15k and channels around 50k, but total capacity remains strong at about 4.8k BTC, worth roughly $400M. Lightning seems to be more concentrated, with fewer channels and nodes but higher average capacity per node, while major players like Bitfinex, Binance, OKX, Kraken, LNBIG, and Block dominate the top node rankings.
