Inbound liquidity drives speed and cost in Lightning payments, Alex Bosworth notes

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Yaroslav Dmytrenko

27.05.2026

Inbound liquidity drives speed and cost in Lightning payments, Alex Bosworth notes — Lightning app payments and liquidity trade-offs

Alex Bosworth, head of infrastructure at Lightning Labs, outlines two approaches to receive payments on Lightning Network apps. He explains that developers can allow net inflow to naturally exceed outflow, though this leads to limited inbound liquidity, making payments more expensive, slow, and prone to failure.

Alternatively, he notes that buying inbound liquidity can be more effective, though it comes at a higher cost.

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Bosworth previously discussed how fee settings and maintenance affect routing node traffic on the Lightning Network, emphasizing the role of inbound liquidity in managing node operations. He has also compared the flexibility of shared UTXOs with Lightning Network channels, drawing an analogy to the contrast between web platforms and app stores to highlight differences in user control. These perspectives inform current approaches to payment flows on Lightning Network apps.

This material may contain third-party opinions, none of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer. While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.

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