The capacity of the Bitcoin Lightning Network reaches a new all-time high

ChainCatcher reports, citing Cointelegraph, that as major cryptocurrency exchanges have broadly adopted it and continuously optimized its features, the capacity of Bitcoin’s Layer2 network—the Lightning Network—has reached a new all-time high.

Data from Bitcoin Visuals shows that the Lightning Network’s capacity has reached 5,606 Bitcoins, breaking the record set in March 2023. The analytics platform Amboss also reported that the Lightning Network’s capacity peaked at 5,637 Bitcoins, worth approximately $490 million. The data shows that after a year of capacity decline, Lightning Network capacity surged in November and December, because more Bitcoins were added to the network, making transactions faster and costs lower.

Currently, the number of Lightning Network nodes is 14,940, down from the peak of 20,700 nodes in March 2022; meanwhile, the number of channels between nodes is 48,678, also below the peak in 2022. The data indicates that the amount of Bitcoins added to the Lightning Network is increasing, but usage measured by the number of nodes and channels may not necessarily grow correspondingly.