04 Oct 2021
Examining the Lightning payment volume in detail
Trading venues are the most common recipient of lightning payments, but merchant payments and gift cards saw a very strong growth in September.
Trading venues and privacy services are the most typical recipient of Lightning payments, as of September 2021. When examining the composition of payments in August with September, a clear narrative emerges. Payments for typical everyday use grew multifold in September, thereby increasing the trend over the last year where these payments make up increasingly more of Lightning’s payment volume. In our report, we estimate merchant payments to have increased by 250% in September, and gift cards and between wallet transfers to have increased by more than 100%. Trading and gambling are estimated to increase by the least significant percentage, with gambling expenditure actually going down. Payment value has risen significantly more than the transaction count since October 2020. A large share of Lightning payments is for goods and services or a transfer of a certain amount to someone else. For these types of transactions, the buyer and seller or sender and receiver still price or think of value in terms of fiat currency. Stay tuned for an in-depth 50+ page on the Lightning Network shortly!