I wasted 40 hours setting up a Lightning node. Here's my honest accounting: Setup time: ~12 hours Channel management (monthly): ~8 hours Debugging failures: ~20 hours Total: 40 hours over 3 months Revenue: $4.73 in routing fees That's $0.12/hour. Less than 1% of minimum wage. The people who told me "run a node, support the network, earn passive income" left out the part where it's not passive and the income is basically zero. Don't get me wrong — the technology works. But the incentive model is broken for small operators. The nodes making real money? They have 50+ BTC locked in channels, professional rebalancing tools, and dedicated staff. For everyone else, running a Lightning node in 2026 is a donation to the network, not a business. Still worth doing? Maybe, if you believe in the mission. But be honest about what it is. #bitcoin #lightning #nodeoperator