I wasted 40 hours setting up a Lightning node.
Here's my honest accounting:
Setup: 20 hrs
Month 1 maintenance: 12 hrs
Month 2-3: 8 hrs
On-chain fees: -$75
Routing income: +$4.73
Net: -$78 and 40 hours of my life.
Effective hourly rate: -$1.96/hr
The dirty secret nobody tells you: Lightning works great for Binance and Cash App. For hobbyists running nodes at home? The economics are broken.
That's why 40,000 nodes disappeared.
Full breakdown:
https://telegra.ph/I-Wasted-40-Hours-on-a-Lightning-Node-…
#bitcoin #lightning #nodeoperator