Bitcoin's Lightning Network has crossed $1 billion in monthly transaction volume for the first time, according to River's third annual State of Lightning report published on February 19, 2026. The research estimates $1.17 billion in monthly volume across 5.22 million transactions, marking a milestone that Lightning skeptics have long argued would never arrive.
The headline number is striking enough on its own. But the real story buried in River's data is how Lightning got here: not through the small retail payments it was originally designed for, but through exchange integrations and enterprise flows that have fundamentally changed the network's character.
From Micropayments to Enterprise Rails
Public Lightning volume surged 266% year-over-year even as the number of public channels and nodes plateaued. That divergence tells a clear story. Fewer channels are carrying far more value per transaction.
River's methodology involves collaborating with the largest node operators on the network, aggregating their data, removing overlap, and extrapolating the results. The approach has been refined over three years of annual reports, making it the closest thing the Lightning ecosystem has to an industry census.
The average Lightning transaction has shifted dramatically upward. In earlier reports, Lightning was dominated by small tipping and gaming payments. Now, the network is processing meaningful commercial volume. Network capacity hit an all-time high of 5,606 BTC in late 2025, roughly $375 million at current prices, with institutional node operators driving the increase.
Sam Wouters, River's head of research, highlighted the exchange adoption wave as the primary catalyst. When major platforms route a significant share of their Bitcoin withdrawals through Lightning, the aggregate volume adds up fast.
Coinbase and Cash App Lead the Exchange Push
The exchange adoption numbers stand out. Coinbase now routes 15% of its Bitcoin transaction volume through Lightning, a figure that has climbed steadily since the exchange integrated Lightning via Lightspark in April 2024. For the largest US exchange by trading volume, 15% represents a substantial share of daily BTC movement.
Cash App, which was an early Lightning adopter, has seen 7x growth in Lightning usage. The payment app now processes roughly one in four Bitcoin payments over Lightning rails, making it one of the highest-adoption consumer platforms on the network.
Xapo Bank achieved 23% Lightning adoption within 12 months of launch. Braiins, the mining pool operator, processes over 1,112 Lightning transactions daily, with 35% of their Bitcoin transactions using the protocol. One large enterprise wallet platform with 1.8 million users reports that 100% of its Bitcoin transactions now occur on Lightning.
These are not experimental integrations. They represent a structural shift in how Bitcoin moves between platforms and users.
The $1 Billion Question: Why Now?
Several forces converged to push Lightning past the billion-dollar mark.
First, exchange adoption created a flywheel effect. Once Coinbase, OKX, Binance, and Cash App supported Lightning withdrawals, users had a reason to choose Lightning over on-chain transactions. Faster settlement and lower fees made the choice obvious for routine transfers.
Second, merchant adoption added real-world spending volume. Steak 'n Shake reported 18% same-store sales growth after accepting Bitcoin via Lightning, capturing one in every 500 global Bitcoin transactions on its launch day. The fast-food chain also cut payment processing costs by roughly 50% compared to traditional credit card interchange fees.
Third, the infrastructure layer matured. Lightspark's SDK simplified Lightning integration for developers. Voltage expanded Bitcoin infrastructure with a USD-settled revolving credit line on Lightning. These infrastructure plays lowered the barrier for businesses to connect to the network without running their own nodes.
Fourth, the top 10 Lightning nodes now control approximately 85% of public capacity, according to River's analysis. While this centralization raises decentralization concerns, it also means the network's largest operators have professional-grade uptime and liquidity, which enterprise users demand.
What This Means for Bitcoin as a Payment Network
The $1 billion monthly volume milestone repositions Lightning in the broader payments landscape. For context, the Visa network processes roughly $1 trillion per month globally. Lightning's $1.17 billion is a fraction of that, but the growth trajectory, 266% year-over-year, suggests the gap is closing faster than most analysts projected.
Lightning's fee structure remains its strongest competitive advantage. Sub-cent transaction fees make it viable for payments where traditional card network interchange (1.5% to 3.5%) would eat the merchant's margin. For crypto card users, Lightning integration means faster top-ups and cheaper transfers between exchanges and spending wallets.
The protocol also enables instant settlement, a feature that matters for merchants who currently wait days for traditional payment processors to release funds. When a Steak 'n Shake customer pays via Lightning, the restaurant receives Bitcoin in seconds rather than waiting for a batch settlement cycle.
For the broader crypto card ecosystem, Lightning's growth validates the thesis that Bitcoin can function as everyday money, not just a store of value. Cards from Coinbase, BitPay, and other providers benefit when Lightning makes BTC-to-fiat conversion faster and cheaper at the point of sale.
Centralization Trade-offs and What Critics Get Right
Not everything in River's data is cause for celebration. The concentration of capacity among the top 10 nodes is a legitimate concern. An 85% share means the network depends heavily on a small number of operators for routing liquidity. If a major node goes offline or a custodial Lightning provider faces an outage, the impact ripples through the entire network.
Channel count and node count have both plateaued, even as volume surges. This pattern suggests that individual hobbyist node operators are being replaced by professional infrastructure providers. The Lightning Network is becoming more like a traditional financial network, fewer, larger participants handling most of the traffic, rather than the decentralized mesh its original whitepaper envisioned.
Critics also point out that $1.17 billion in monthly volume still represents a tiny fraction of global payments. Lightning handles roughly 0.001% of what Visa processes. The 266% growth rate is impressive, but sustaining that rate requires continued exchange integration, merchant adoption, and tooling improvements that are far from guaranteed.
What Comes Next for Lightning
River's report arrives at an inflection point for Bitcoin's Layer 2 ecosystem. Lightspark recently launched the Spark protocol, a next-generation Lightning implementation. Voltage is building enterprise credit facilities denominated in USD but settled over Lightning. The CME Group's decision to trade crypto futures 24/7 starting May 29 will further blur the line between traditional finance settlement and Bitcoin-native payment rails.
The stablecoin dimension adds another layer. Voltage CEO Graham Krizek has argued that Lightning could capture 5% of the global stablecoin transaction market, which would represent billions in additional monthly volume. If USDT or USDC flows begin routing through Lightning channels alongside BTC, the network's total volume could multiply rapidly.
For now, the $1.17 billion figure speaks for itself. Lightning went from a whitepaper concept to a billion-dollar monthly payment network in under a decade. The next milestone, $10 billion, will depend on whether the centralization trade-offs that enabled this growth ultimately strengthen or undermine the protocol's long-term viability.
FAQ
How does River measure Lightning Network volume? River collaborates with the largest Lightning node operators, aggregates their anonymized transaction data, removes overlap between nodes, and extrapolates the results to estimate total network volume and transaction counts. This is the third year River has published this research.
What is the average Lightning transaction size? With $1.17 billion in monthly volume across 5.22 million transactions, the implied average transaction size is approximately $224. This has increased significantly from earlier years when small micropayments dominated the network.
Does Lightning Network growth affect crypto card users? Yes. Lightning integration enables faster and cheaper Bitcoin deposits to exchange-linked cards. When exchanges like Coinbase route 15% of BTC volume through Lightning, card top-ups that use those exchanges benefit from near-instant settlement and sub-cent fees.
Is the Lightning Network centralized? River's data shows the top 10 nodes control approximately 85% of public capacity. While this enables professional-grade reliability, it creates concentration risk. The node and channel count has plateaued even as volume surges, indicating a shift toward fewer, larger operators.
Overview
River's third annual State of Lightning report confirms that Bitcoin's Lightning Network has crossed $1 billion in monthly transaction volume for the first time, with $1.17 billion flowing through 5.22 million monthly transactions. Public volume surged 266% year-over-year, driven primarily by exchange adoption from Coinbase (15% of BTC volume), Cash App (7x growth), and enterprise infrastructure providers. Network capacity hit an all-time high of 5,606 BTC, though centralization concerns persist as the top 10 nodes control 85% of capacity. The milestone repositions Lightning from an experimental micropayment layer to a legitimate payment network, though it still processes a tiny fraction of global payment volume.
Recommended Reading
- Steak n Shake Reports 18 Percent Same-Store Sales Growth After Accepting Bitcoin as $15 Million Strategic Reserve Takes Shape
- CME Group Will Trade Crypto Futures and Options 24/7 Starting May 29, Ending the Last Structural Gap Between Wall Street and Native Exchanges
- Stripe's Bridge Wins OCC Conditional Approval for a National Bank Trust Charter, Putting Stablecoin Issuance Under Federal Oversight
Sources
- Sam Wouters on X: Lightning Network exceeds $1 billion in monthly volume
- River on X: Lightning Network exceeds $1B in monthly transaction volume
- Stephan Livera on X: Lightning volume at $1.17 billion, 5.22 million transactions per month
- Cointelegraph on X: Lightning Network surpasses $1 billion monthly volume
