Lightning Network Hits $1B Monthly Volume as Bitcoin Usage Grows

Lightning Network Adoption Rises Despite Bitcoin Price Recent Weakness

The Bitcoin Lightning Network transaction volume has crossed a historic milestone, processing around $1.17 billion in payments during November 2025 for the first time. The data was highlighted by Coin Bureau and backed by estimates from River Financial. 

The data marks a major jump from around $286.5 million in November 2024, highlighting strong year-over-year growth. The data was made public in mid-February 2026, immediately sparking discussion about Bitcoin’s growing real-world utility beyond trading and speculation. 

Volume Shows Real-World Use and Potential Development

The Lightning Network is a layer-2 payment system built on top of Bitcoin, designed to enable fast and low-cost transactions. Instead of recording every payment directly on the main blockchain, the platform allows users to transact instantly through payment channels and settle final balances later on-chain. 

Over the past year, the platform has evolved from small-scale experiments to handling meaningful economic activity. In November 2025 alone, it processed around 5.22 million transactions, with the average transaction size rising to about $223, nearly double the previous year. This shows a clear shift toward higher-value, practical payments rather than just micropayments. 

Blockchain’s Asset Price Weakness Has Not Slowed Institutional Use

What makes this growth notable is that it happened during a period when BTC faced a high volatility and its price still continues to stagger around the $65k range, measuring around 40% value lost since the October crash.

Source: CoinMarketCap Data

Despite the lack of price momentum, institutions and exchanges continue to increase their use of Lightning.

Major exchanges and infrastructure providers have added liquidity, while institutional transfers worth millions of dollars have been completed in seconds using the network. 

The Network capacity also expanded, with over 5,600 BTC locked into its channels by the end of 2025. 

In the End

The rise in Bitcoin Lightning Network transaction volume shows that utility is starting to matter more than hype. Even during a soft price phase, real usage continues to grow. 

Lightning’s $1 billion milestone suggests Bitcoin is steadily moving closer to functioning as everyday money, not just a store of value. 

Note: The article above is for informational purposes only; It does not constitute any financial or legal advice.