What’s the general amount people send using the Bitcoin Lightning Network? \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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What’s the general amount people send using the Bitcoin Lightning Network?

690 sats \ 14 comments \ @aliceandthewonderland 10 Dec bitcoin_beginners

I’ve heard that the Lightning Network is mostly used for small transactions, like buying a coffee or tipping online. On the other hand, on-chain transactions are typically for opening or closing channels, while Lightning is used for sending sats.

What I’m curious about is the general capacity for sending sats through the Lightning Network. Are most people just sending small amounts, or do some regularly send larger transactions (like 0.1 to 0.9 BTC)?

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134 sats \ 8 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 10 Dec

I think that in theory there is no limit, but in practice you are limited to the liquidity of the nodes and channels.

https://1ml.com/statistics

The average Lightning transaction size on the public network was around 44.7k satoshis, or $11.84 in August 2023.

https://river.com/learn/files/river-lightning-report-2023.pdf

0 sats \ 7 replies \ @aliceandthewonderland OP 10 Dec

but in practice you are limited to the liquidity of the nodes and channels.

Yeah, I get that, but is sending more than 0.5 BTC actually practical?

84 sats \ 3 replies \ @DarthCoin 10 Dec

Yes you can. Rene Pickhardt demonstrate how he sent 1 BTC over LN . Here is his YT channel with more demo videos https://www.youtube.com/user/renepickhardt/videos

Over LN you can literally stream payments. The only restriction is the size of the channels on the path. If you can find enough liquidity, you can send 1 BTC easily.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/pickhardt-payments-how-to-send-large-bitcoin-payments-on-lightning.

My personal biggest payment over LN was 5M sats, using 2 hops. But for example you could very easily send 5 payments of 1M each over the same route. Why smaller amounts is better? because sometimes the routes are limiting the max HTLC to avoid fast drainage of the channels.

I am not worried about the limitations imposed by nodes, but by people not using LN and opening big channels. I still see people opening tiny shity channels of 100ks sats, with public nodes ! Maybe for a private mobile node is OK a 100k sats channel, but for a public one, must be bigger than 3M-5M sats at least.

Imagine a pipeline struggling to send large volume of water through tiny pipes....

Very good question btw.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @aliceandthewonderland OP 10 Dec

for a public one, must be bigger than 3M-5M sats at least.

It must be a hassle for node operators to rebalance channel liquidity when large amounts are constantly being moved, tho

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @028559d218 10 Dec

I think there are apps for this... that balance channels/manage liquidity automatically.

2 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 10 Dec

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 10 Dec

I'm not the right person to ask. @DarthCoin be able to help you. I think if the channels have sufficient liquidity, it's possible. For those amounts, though, I'd probably use the mainnet.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 10 Dec

if the channels have sufficient liquidity, it's possible.

100%

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @aliceandthewonderland OP 10 Dec

I'm not the right person to ask

just wanted to get a general sense of the situation. Thanks!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @028559d218 10 Dec

For me at least... like 300 sats maybe less usually. I've sent and received 10 sats many many times... and I even get auto withdrawals for like 1 or 2 sats at a time.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 10 Dec

Anything larger than $100 I go for on-chain... YMMV

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @denlillaapan 10 Dec

Never yet had a transaction declined because it's being too large...

Usually just some tech/connection/Tor issue in case they don't go through. (Then again, largest payment I've ever done over Lightning is probs 1M sats or so)