The public Lightning graph carries 40,986 active channels across 17,436 nodes, holding approximately 4,870.8 BTC in total channel capacity as of May 30, 2026. That headline number, per Mempool.space’s public-graph crawl, masks a paradox visible in the underlying Bitcoin graph data: public channel count peaked at 82,825 on March 28, 2022, and total capacity reached an all-time high near 5,851.2 BTC on December 28, 2025. Lightning is consolidating into fewer, larger channels concentrated on a small number of professional operators, and the data below traces every dimension of that shift.
An independent crawl by 1ML places its observed Lightning Network at 6,176 nodes, 20,624 channels, and approximately 2,977.13 BTC of network capacity as of May 31, 2026, with an average of 6.68 channels per node, per 1ML methodology. The gap between the two crawls reflects measurement: 1ML reports only nodes broadcasting state to its own observer set, while mempool.space measures the full announced gossip graph, and both counts exclude private channels and custodial-wallet internal payments.
Key Takeaways
- 40,986 public channels sat on the Lightning gossip graph on May 30, 2026, distributed across 17,436 public nodes.
- Total public-graph capacity reached ~4870.8 BTC (487,082,045,459 sats) at the same snapshot.
- Capacity peaked at ~5851.2 BTC on December 28, 2025, the all-time high in the mempool.space series.
- Public channel count peaked at 82,825 channels on March 28, 2022, roughly 2.02x today’s public-graph channel count.
- The geolocated public node map spans 109 countries, with the United States holding 30.42% of placed nodes, followed by China at 14.92% and Germany at 9.58%.
- Clearnet capacity totals ~4204.5 BTC of the network’s measurable capacity, with Tor-reachable capacity at just 94.1 BTC and unknown-network capacity at 552.6 BTC.
- The median channel size is 2,100,000 satoshis (~0.021 BTC), while the average runs 11,884,108 satoshis (~0.119 BTC), reflecting a long-tail distribution.
Editor’s Choice
- Bitfinex operates the network’s largest single Lightning node, bfx-lnd0, with ~555.1 BTC across 651 channels.
- ACINQ holds the connectivity crown with 2,039 active channels on a single node.
- Amazon AWS hosts approximately ~1915.9 BTC of clearnet Lightning capacity across 8,945 nodes.
- Google Cloud comes second among hosting providers at approximately ~1166.9 BTC across 2,091 nodes.
- The network reports a median fee rate of 100 ppm and an average fee rate of 819 ppm across announced channels.
- Capacity stood at approximately 42.6 BTC in January 2019 versus approximately ~4873.5 BTC on May 30, 2026, multiple orders of magnitude higher.
- Estimated monthly active Lightning users sat between 279,000 and 1.116 million as of September 2023, per River Financial, with roughly 8x more custodial than non-custodial users at that snapshot.
Recent Developments
- December 28, 2025 marked the all-time public-capacity high at approximately 5,851.2 BTC.
- Public channel count fell from 50,901 in June 2024 to 40,364 in March 2026, more than a fifth lower over the 21-month window.
- The clearnet node count grew roughly 2.65x between June 2024 (1,760 clearnet nodes) and March 2026 (4,665 clearnet nodes) as operators migrated reachability layers.
- As of May 2026, the top three cloud hosts (Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and DataWeb Global Group) carry approximately 1,915.9, 1,166.9, and 949.0 BTC respectively, accounting for the vast majority of identifiable clearnet Lightning capacity.
- A 14-month channel-count slide ran from 42,479 channels in January 2025 to 40,364 in March 2026. This pattern suggests operators are closing redundant channels rather than reducing per-channel liquidity.
- The network added 314 new nodes and 6,848 new channels in the trailing 30 days to May 31, 2026, according to 1ML’s independent crawl, while its cumulative nodes-observed counter sits at 63,171, evidence that operator churn is sustaining channel formation even as the steady-state count drops.
Lightning Network Snapshot
The most recent mempool.space crawl recorded 40,986 active channels, 17,436 public nodes, and approximately ~4870.8 BTC in total channel capacity on May 30, 2026. The reachability split inside that node count breaks down as 8,958 Tor-only nodes, 4,676 clearnet-only nodes, and 1,780 dual-reachable nodes, with another 2,022 unannounced nodes. These are the canonical headline figures any Lightning analysis should anchor against; private channels and custodial-wallet internal payments sit outside this measurement.
- Public-graph capacity stood at 4,870.8 BTC on May 30, 2026, down -17.0% from the December 28, 2025 peak.
- Public channels numbered 40,986 at the same snapshot.
- That channel count is -50.5% below the March 28, 2022 peak.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Public-graph capacity (2026-05-30) | 4,870.8 BTC |
| Change since 2025-12-28 peak | -17.0% |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/latest` (snapshot 2026-05-30).
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Public channels (2026-05-30) | 40,986 |
| Change since 2022-03-28 peak | -50.5% |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/latest` (snapshot 2026-05-30).
By the numbers: As of May 30, 2026 the public Lightning graph carries 40,986 channels, 17,436 nodes, 4,870.8 BTC in total capacity, a median channel size of 2,100,000 satoshis, and a median fee rate of 100 ppm, per mempool.space data.
Lightning Capacity Growth Over Time
Total public-graph capacity rose from approximately 42.6 BTC in January 2019 to approximately ~4873.5 BTC by late May 2026 after peaking at ~5851.2 BTC on December 28, 2025, roughly 114x the January 2019 figure. The trajectory is non-linear: rapid expansion through 2021-2022, a brief contraction through mid-2023, a fresh push to new highs in late 2024 and 2025, then the recent drawdown.
- Capacity started at 42.6 BTC in 2019-01.
- It rose to 618.2 BTC by 2019-11.
- The series peaked at 5,530.2 BTC in 2025-12 before easing to 4,870.8 BTC in 2026-05.
| Date | Capacity (BTC) |
|---|---|
| 2019-01 | 42.6 |
| 2019-11 | 618.2 |
| 2020-12 | 824.5 |
| 2021-10 | 2,573.7 |
| 2022-12 | 5,180.9 |
| 2023-12 | 5,069.8 |
| 2024-11 | 5,265.7 |
| 2025-12 | 5,530.2 |
| 2026-05 | 4,870.8 |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/all` daily series.
Routed payment volume grew alongside capacity. An estimated 6.6 million Lightning payments were routed on the public network in August 2023, according to River Financial’s 2023 Lightning Network report, a 1,212% increase from K33’s August 2021 estimate of 503,000 payments.
Public Channel Count History
The public channel count peaked at 82,825 on March 28, 2022, before grinding lower through 2023, 2024, and 2025, then stabilizing in the low-41,000s through the first half of 2026. Today’s roughly 40,986-channel figure sits well below that peak even as capacity stays within striking distance of its December 2025 record.
- Channel count peaked at 82,825 in 2022-03.
- It fell to 41,020 by 2026-05.
- The 2019-01 starting point was just 2,247 channels.
| Date | Channels |
|---|---|
| 2019-01 | 2,247 |
| 2019-11 | 26,519 |
| 2020-12 | 29,190 |
| 2021-10 | 64,443 |
| 2022-03 | 82,825 |
| 2022-12 | 73,398 |
| 2023-12 | 59,680 |
| 2024-11 | 46,708 |
| 2025-12 | 42,129 |
| 2026-05 | 41,020 |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/all` daily series; March 2022 row is the all-time peak.
Lightning Node Distribution by Reachability
Lightning’s publicly-announced node set leans Tor-heavy, even though clearnet carries most of the routable liquidity.
- Of 17,436 publicly announced Lightning nodes, 8,958 announce only Tor reachability.
- 4,676 nodes announce only clearnet and 1,780 announce both layers, with the remainder unannounced.
- The Tor-heavy mix is a holdover from Lightning’s early privacy-first culture; clearnet holds the lion’s share of the liquidity readers touch when paying a Strike invoice or a Merchant payments terminal.
Top Countries by Lightning Node Count
The 14,571 geolocated public Lightning nodes are spread across 109 countries, with the United States holding 4,432 nodes (30.42%), China holding 2,174 (14.92%), and Germany holding 1,396 (9.58%) as of May 31, 2026. Canada and France round out the top five at 8.50% and 7.94%, respectively. Tor-only nodes are excluded from this map because they lack a resolvable IP geolocation.
- The United States leads with 4,432 geolocated nodes, a 30.42% share.
- China ranks second at 2,174 nodes (14.92%).
- Germany ranks third at 1,396 nodes (9.58%).
| Country | Geolocated nodes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 4,432 | 30.42% |
| China | 2,174 | 14.92% |
| Germany | 1,396 | 9.58% |
| Canada | 1,238 | 8.50% |
| France | 1,157 | 7.94% |
| Netherlands | 502 | 3.45% |
| United Kingdom | 433 | 2.97% |
| Switzerland | 399 | 2.74% |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/nodes/countries` (snapshot 2026-05-31).
Key finding: The United States, China, and Germany together host roughly 55% of geolocated Lightning nodes; the long tail across 109 countries gets thin fast, with the top eight countries holding more than 76% of the geolocated population.
Top Lightning Nodes by Connectivity
Ranked by active channel count, ACINQ tops the connectivity leaderboard with 2,039 channels, followed by 1ML.com node ALPHA at 1,767, CoinGate at 1,314, LNT. Thailand at 1,206, and Kraken at 1,152 as of May 31, 2026. WalletOfSatoshi.com, the dominant retail custodial wallet, sits in sixth at 1,124 channels. These are the routing-heavy nodes – many small channels designed to optimize payment success rates across the gossip graph.
- ACINQ tops connectivity with 2,039 channels.
- 1ML.com node ALPHA ranks second at 1,767 channels.
- CoinGate ranks third at 1,314 channels.
| Node alias | Channels | Capacity (BTC) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACINQ | 2,039 | 355.7 | US |
| 1ML.com node ALPHA | 1,767 | 8.05 | US |
| CoinGate | 1,314 | 16.4 | DE |
| LNT.Thailand | 1,206 | 0.75 | TH |
| Kraken | 1,152 | 248.2 | IN |
| WalletOfSatoshi.com | 1,124 | 140.9 | CA |
| LNT.chengdu | 828 | 0.89 | CN |
| nicehash-ln1 | 668 | 76.3 | BE |
| kappa | 659 | 77.7 | US |
| Boltz | 656 | 149.0 | CR |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/nodes/rankings/connectivity` (snapshot 2026-05-31).
Top Lightning Nodes by Liquidity
Re-ranked by total channel capacity, the leaderboard reorders: Bitfinex’s bfx-lnd0 tops the list at ~555.1 BTC across just 651 channels, with sister node bfx-lnd1 at ~464.6 BTC, Binance at ~413.4 BTC across 199 channels, ACINQ at ~357.3 BTC, and LNBiG Hub-1 at ~338.7 BTC. These are the liquidity hubs – fewer channels, each carrying significantly more capacity.
- bfx-lnd0 leads by liquidity at 555.1 BTC across 651 channels.
- bfx-lnd1 ranks second at 464.6 BTC.
- Binance ranks third at 413.4 BTC across just 199 channels.
| Node alias | Capacity (BTC) | Channels | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| bfx-lnd0 | 555.1 | 651 | CH |
| bfx-lnd1 | 464.6 | 617 | CH |
| Binance | 413.4 | 199 | N/A |
| ACINQ | 357.3 | 2,051 | US |
| LNBiG [Hub-1] | 338.7 | 303 | US |
| block-iad-1 | 265.6 | 640 | US |
| LNBiG [Hub-2] | 249.1 | 179 | US |
| Kraken | 248.2 | 1,152 | IN |
| okx | 225.9 | 491 | HK |
| fixedfloat.com | 201.1 | 196 | LT |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/nodes/rankings/liquidity` (snapshot 2026-05-31).
Lightning Hosting and Cloud Concentration
Hosting-provider analysis exposes a heavy concentration: Amazon AWS carries approximately ~1915.9 BTC of Lightning capacity across 8,945 nodes, Google Cloud carries ~1166.9 BTC across 2,091 nodes, and DataWeb Global Group carries ~949.0 BTC across 704 nodes as of May 31, 2026. Hetzner ranks fourth at approximately 327.5 BTC. The implication is stark: a single cloud provider outage could disconnect a meaningful slice of routable Lightning liquidity, an operational risk that the public-graph headline numbers do not surface.
- Amazon AWS carries the most capacity, 1,915.9 BTC across 8,945 nodes.
- Google Cloud ranks second, 1,166.9 BTC across 2,091 nodes.
- DataWeb Global Group ranks third at 949.0 BTC.
| Hosting provider | Capacity (BTC) | Node count |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon AWS | 1,915.9 | 8,945 |
| Google Cloud | 1,166.9 | 2,091 |
| DataWeb Global Group | 949.0 | 704 |
| Hetzner Online | 327.5 | 3,113 |
| Alibaba | 179.6 | 368 |
| RackNation | 144.5 | 421 |
| Lunanode | 137.4 | 1,272 |
| 1&1 Internet AG | 70.6 | 538 |
| Oracle Cloud | 43.0 | 418 |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/nodes/isp-ranking` (snapshot 2026-05-31).
Why it matters: A single cloud provider outage at Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, or Hetzner could disconnect a meaningful slice of routable Lightning capacity, an operational risk the public-graph headline numbers do not surface.
Tor vs Clearnet Capacity Split
Classified by reachability, clearnet dominates Lightning capacity far more than the node counts alone imply.
- Clearnet nodes carry approximately ~4204.5 BTC of classified capacity as of May 31, 2026.
- Tor-only nodes carry just 94.1 BTC, with unknown-network nodes at 552.6 BTC.
- The Tor-clearnet capacity gap is far wider than the node-count gap because Tor-only nodes are predominantly small private and routing-oriented deployments.
The 2024 to 2026 Contraction
Across the two-year window, channels fell in a compressed contraction: channels fell from 50,901 to 40,364, while capacity oscillated between a July 2025 trough of ~3719.1 BTC and a December 2025 peak of ~5749.6 BTC. The trough-to-peak swing inside that window, about 2,030 BTC of capacity across roughly five months, shows how quickly liquidity reallocates when professional routers open or close channels.
- Capacity peaked in the window at 5,749.6 BTC in 2024-12.
- It bottomed at 3,818.5 BTC in 2025-09.
- The window opened at 5,172.4 BTC in 2024-06.
| Month | Capacity (BTC) |
|---|---|
| 2024-06 | 5,172.4 |
| 2024-09 | 5,203.5 |
| 2024-12 | 5,749.6 |
| 2025-03 | 4,416.0 |
| 2025-06 | 4,160.3 |
| 2025-09 | 3,818.5 |
| 2025-12 | 5,749.6 |
| 2026-03 | 4,826.9 |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/2y` monthly anchors.
Clearnet vs Tor Node Migration
Across the 2024-2026 window, operators migrated toward clearnet rather than spinning up new Tor-only nodes.
- Clearnet node counts rose from 1,760 in June 2024 to 4,665 in March 2026, roughly 2.65x.
- Tor-only node counts moved from 9,154 to 9,030, essentially flat.
- The shift reflects routing efficiency and Lightning Service Provider integration, a meaningful change in the network’s operational character.
Lightning Fee Economics
The latest snapshot reports a median channel fee rate of 100 ppm (parts per million) and an average fee rate of 819 ppm, alongside a median base fee of 128 millisatoshi per forwarded payment. The wide gap between median and mean reflects a small population of high-fee routing channels skewing the average. For a typical multi-hop Lightning payment, median routing fees stay vanishingly small on a per-transaction basis.
- The median fee rate is 100 ppm (0.01%).
- The average fee rate runs far higher at 819 ppm (0.0819%).
- The median channel size is 2,100,000 sats.
| Fee metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Median fee rate | 100 ppm (0.01%) |
| Average fee rate | 819 ppm (0.0819%) |
| Median base fee | 128 msat |
| Average base fee | 892 msat |
| Median channel size | 2,100,000 sats |
| Average channel size | 11,884,108 sats |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/latest` (snapshot 2026-05-30).
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Public channels (2026-05-30) | 40,986 |
| Change since 2022-03-28 peak | -50.5% |
Source: mempool.space `/lightning/statistics/latest` (snapshot 2026-05-30).
Does Bitcoin use the Lightning Network?
Bitcoin’s base chain settles transactions on its own ledger, but Lightning is the dominant Layer 2 protocol that routes off-chain Bitcoin payments through a network of bidirectional channels. As of May 30, 2026, the public Lightning graph carries 40,986 channels and ~4870.8 BTC, with the channels themselves anchored by on-chain Bitcoin funding transactions. Custodial Lightning wallets like WalletOfSatoshi.com route payments on behalf of millions of users.
Is the Lightning Network growing?
Lightning capacity climbed from approximately ~42.6 BTC in January 2019 to its December 2025 peak of approximately ~5851.2 BTC. The trajectory rose more than a hundredfold across that span, but recent months tell a more nuanced story. Channel count slid from its March 2022 peak of 82,825 to roughly 41,020 in May 2026, while capacity stood at approximately ~4873.5 BTC in May 2026 versus its December 2025 all-time high of ~5851.2 BTC. The network is consolidating into fewer, larger channels rather than expanding the node footprint.
What apps use the Bitcoin Lightning Network?
Major Lightning-enabled applications include WalletOfSatoshi.com, Strike, Cash App, Phoenix (ACINQ), Muun, Breez, and Zeus on the wallet side, plus Kraken, Binance, OKX, Bitfinex, and Boltz for exchange deposits and withdrawals. On the routing layer, ACINQ tops the public connectivity ranking with 2,039 channels, while WalletOfSatoshi.com sits sixth with 1,124 channels behind 1ML.com node ALPHA (1,767), CoinGate (1,314), LNT.Thailand (1,206), and Kraken (1,152). Many wallets use USDT and other stablecoin layers alongside Lightning for cross-asset flows.
Conclusion
The public Lightning graph now operates with 40,986 active channels, 17,436 nodes, and approximately ~4870.8 BTC in capacity, a multi-order-of-magnitude expansion since 2019 that has flattened into consolidation. Channel count slid from the 82,825 March 2022 peak to roughly 41,020 in May 2026, while capacity sat at approximately ~4873.5 BTC in May 2026 versus the December 2025 ~5851.2 BTC all-time high, a coherent story of fewer operators, larger channels, and more professional routing.
Looking ahead, the dimensions worth watching are the Tor-to-clearnet operator migration, Lightning Service Provider channel-management automation, and whether the December 2025 capacity peak holds as a durable ceiling or proves to be a midcycle high. The data covered above gives readers, including the underbanked populations Lightning advocates often cite and operators handling cross-border remittances, a clear scoreboard against which to measure the next phase of Layer 2 Bitcoin payments.
