Fees paid by lightning network operators have drastically decreased over the past year (anomaly notwithstanding).
https://image.nostr.build/12e6c1e6a8b083523a3a24442711209ff884e11139ba012c4de67a3b10ced5f1.jpg

While force closes tend to get the most attention, channel opens pay more fees to miners in total than all channel closes. 

Lightning channels are clearly solving a problem because the urgency to start new lightning channels is greater than the urgency to close them.

(w/o FCs) https://image.nostr.build/fa61801afc00c34183da28aa46db5e510f0038cd5afdff77370b482f60b5c7f0.jpg
(w/ FCs) https://image.nostr.build/7cdb1f3d099f162a3ff431fa64f8d19c691b70f95783ed86137b122ab360af09.jpg
#lightningnetwork #statistics #bitcoin