Monthly transaction volume on the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network, which serves as a secondary layer facilitating payment operations, has now exceeded the $1 billion mark as of November 2025, based on a report from the Bitcoin service provider River.
According to River’s report, transaction volume reached approximately $1.1 billion during November after handling around 5.2 million transactions. Sam Wouters, the marketing director at River, stated:
“Lightning adoption occurred despite the price diminishing throughout November and generally remaining stagnant in 2025. The surge in adoption was mainly fueled by exchanges and a rising number of merchants accepting Bitcoin payments.”
Estimated monthly Lightning Network transaction volume and transaction count. Source: River
However, it is noteworthy that the total transaction count for 2025 is lower than in 2023, which saw transaction volumes reaching a peak of 6.6 million in August, attributed to experimentation with micropayments in gaming and messaging applications.
The report anticipates a similar uptrend in Lightning transactions spurred by individuals and businesses exploring AI payment solutions.
The Bitcoin Lightning Network enhances scalability for Bitcoin, allowing payments to settle between parties in seconds, which encourages Bitcoin to be utilized as a medium of exchange rather than merely a speculative asset.
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Growing Adoption Among Exchanges and Institutions
The Lightning Network minimizes transaction costs and speeds up settlement by establishing a payment channel between multiple parties for offchain transactions, only recording the net balance on the Bitcoin ledger once the channel is closed.
Typically, Bitcoin blocks require an average of 10 minutes to be added to the ledger, greatly limiting Bitcoin payments, especially for minor purchases at physical locations.
As of December 2025, the Lightning Network’s capacity—the cumulative amount of coins available for liquidity—reached 5,606 BTC due to increased usage among companies and institutional clients.
Overview of companies providing Bitcoin Lightning Network services. Source: River
In February, Secure Digital Markets, a trading and lending firm, successfully transferred $1 million in a Lightning transaction to the crypto exchange Kraken. This transaction demonstrated that substantial amounts could be transferred seamlessly between institutional participants via Bitcoin’s layer-2 network.
