Stephan Livera Podcast Has Lightning Quietly Succeeded? with Nate (Beeforbacon) | SLP708
Dec 29, 2025
Nate (BeefOrBacon), a Lightning Network practitioner at Voltage, discusses the evolution and future of the Lightning Network. He highlights significant improvements in payment success rates and emphasizes how public perception often misaligns with actual usage. The conversation dives into the dynamics of routing fees, node centrality, and the economic incentives for operators. Nate also touches on innovations in Lightning technology, privacy considerations, and the growing integration of Lightning within traditional finance, making a strong case for its potential in the enterprise space.
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Payment Success Has Improved
- Lightning payment success rates have improved over time even without more total on‑chain capacity.
- Efficiency gains and better tooling raise success while deployed Bitcoin stays similar.
Public Capacity Hides Actual Volume
- Public channel capacity underestimates real Lightning activity because funds 'slosh' and peer flows are private.
- Volume and liquidity flow are hard to measure, so visible capacity is only the stock, not the flow.
Set Fees To Guide Liquidity
- Use fees to target desirable liquidity flow rather than only chasing yield.
- Set floor fees and tune channel fees to avoid being exploited by opportunistic routings.