nikotsla

While the network boasts over 16,000 nodes and almost 50,000 channels, the actual throughput for significant payments is surprisingly narrow:

Connectivity: Only 1/3 of nodes (approx. 5,000) have more than 3 channels. The rest are essentially "end-points," not routers.

The 1M Sat Barrier: If we filter out nodes with a total capacity below 1,000,000 sats, we are left with fewer than 3,000 relevant players.

The 5M Sat Barrier: For payments larger than 5 million sats, the field narrows down to roughly 1,200 nodes.

Routing isn't just about total capacity; it’s about distribution and directional liquidity. To be a reliable router, a node needs "local" and "remote" balance across multiple paths.

If we look for nodes with at least 5 channels capable of supporting large-scale transfers, the numbers become stark:

Capacity of 10M+ sats: An additional 9 nodes.

For a single-path payment exceeding 10 million sats, the global network effectively collapses down to just 71 key nodes. This highlights that LN is currently far more centralized than many enthusiasts admit.

However, this is where Multi-Path Payments (MPP) come into play. Also question is how many people would rather use lightning instead of onchain for large payments.

lightning

Lately Im playing around with stats on [https://lnplatby.com/](https://lnplatby.com/) and got some more interesting data:
 While the network boasts over 16,000 nodes and almost 50,000 channels, the actual throughput for significant payments is surprisingly narrow:

Connectivity: Only 1/3 of nodes (approx. 5,000) have more than 3 channels. The rest are essentially "end-points," not routers.
The 1M Sat Barrier: If we filter out nodes with a total capacity below 1,000,000 sats, we are left with fewer than 3,000 relevant players.
The 5M Sat Barrier: For payments larger than 5 million sats, the field narrows down to roughly 1,200 nodes.

2. The Bottleneck Effect for Large Volumes

Routing isn't just about total capacity; it’s about distribution and directional liquidity. To be a reliable router, a node needs "local" and "remote" balance across multiple paths.

If we look for nodes with at least 5 channels capable of supporting large-scale transfers, the numbers become stark:

Capacity of 15M+ sats: Only 62 nodes.
Capacity of 10M+ sats: An additional 9 nodes.

3. The Verdict: Centralization vs. The MPP Savior

For a single-path payment exceeding 10 million sats, the global network effectively collapses down to just 71 key nodes. This highlights that LN is currently far more centralized than many enthusiasts admit.

However, this is where Multi-Path Payments (MPP) come into play. Also question is how many people would rather use lightning instead of onchain for large payments.