State of Lightning: Usage and Progress

Show Notes

PBJ offers a grounded look at the state of the Lightning Network in 2025: adoption levels, misconceptions, and where it actually stands today. Steve Lee breaks down what “usage” really means, why public metrics are misleading, and how private data shows steady 15% monthly growth in Lightning payments. PBJ also touches on emerging protocols like Ark, Spark, and Cashew, and why Lightning remains the core “glue” for Bitcoin payments even as the ecosystem experiments with new layers. Timestamps: 00:00 — State of Lightning in 2025 02:30 — Cashu and new protocols 03:58 — Growth, data, and use cases