Lightning Network Tops $1 Billion in Monthly Volume as Usage Tilts Toward Larger Transfers

Overview

• River estimates the network processed about $1.17 billion across 5.22 million payments in November 2025 despite flat Bitcoin prices.
• Average payment size rose to $223 from $118 a year earlier, reflecting fewer micropayments and more inter-exchange or business transfers.
• The figures derive from anonymized data contributed by major node operators—ACINQ, Kraken, Breez, Lightspark, LQWD and others—covering over half of network capacity and extrapolated to the rest.
• Lightning Labs recently released an open-source toolkit that lets AI agents run nodes, make autonomous payments, and host paid services on the network.
• Institutional appetite surfaced in a $1 million Lightning transaction from Secure Digital Markets to Kraken this month, illustrating capacity for larger, faster settlement.