DOI: 10.11118/ecos2026_019

LIGHTNING NETWORK AS AN ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

Tomáš Lacina¹, Petr Jedlička¹

¹ Department of Informatics, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

This paper presents the design, implementation, and economic evaluation of a payment module that enables merchants to accept Bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network using a self-hosted Bitcoin node. While the Bitcoin base layer suffers from limited throughput, relatively high transaction fees, and longer confirmation times, the Lightning Network addresses these limitations through off-chain payment channels, enabling near-instant settlement at minimal cost. The study combines a theoretical analysis of the Bitcoin protocol and the Lightning Network with a comparative evaluation of traditional payment methods and cryptocurrency-based payments. Primary data were collected from the official pricing schedules of eight payment terminal providers and six payment gateway providers operating in the Czech Republic. A full Bitcoin and Lightning Network node was deployed on an HP 260 G2 Mini platform running Umbrel, Bitcoin Core, LND, and BTCPay Server. Based on this infrastructure, a web application named Flash was developed to support payment processing and transaction management. The functionality and usability of the application were verified through pilot user testing. The results indicate that transaction costs associated with the Lightning Network are several orders of magnitude lower than those of conventional payment terminals and payment gateways while maintaining immediate settlement. Furthermore, operating a self-hosted payment infrastructure requires only a modest initial investment. The study identifies merchant technical expertise and the limited adoption of Lightning Network wallets among consumers as the principal barriers to broader deployment. The findings suggest that the Lightning Network represents a technically feasible and economically attractive payment alternative for small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to reduce transaction costs and increase payment-processing autonomy.

Keywords: Lightning Network, Bitcoin, payment infrastructure, transaction costs, decentralized payment systems, BTCPay Server, small and medium-sized enterprises, cryptocurrency payments

pages: 194-203, online: 2026