How the Lightning Network Works: Channels, Liquidity, Custody, and Failure Modes
A protocol-grounded guide to Lightning channels, commitment states, custody, liquidity, routing, monitoring, backups, closures, fees, privacy and failure modes.
A protocol-grounded guide to Lightning channels, commitment states, custody, liquidity, routing, monitoring, backups, closures, fees, privacy and failure modes.
The Lightning Network is a pivotal payment innovation for Bitcoin. It is a “Layer 2” payment protocol that operates on top of a…
Last reviewed July 23, 2026.