In the early days, holding Bitcoin on your balance sheet felt like the boldest move you could make as a company. Companies locked in exposure to a scarce, appreciating asset with the conviction it’s the best form of money. But now a new paradigm is emerging: using Bitcoin as money, not just as a long-duration asset reserve. Thanks to the Lightning Network, Bitcoin treasury companies can begin to earn native, non-custodial yield by supporting the payments infrastructure itself, a complete breakthrough for corporations looking to put their BTC treasury strategy to work.
In the short term, Bitcoin treasury companies gain a new yield source by deploying idle BTC into Lightning liquidity channels, earning routing fees and transaction volume rewards. They also improve treasury efficiency by keeping capital liquid and revenue-generating, rather than passively held. This turns their Bitcoin from a dormant store of value into productive digital capital that compounds both financial and strategic returns.
The ability to leverage native bitcoin payments for revenue growth matters in a way that transcends mere yield. It aligns the incentives of treasurers, payments companies, and the broader Bitcoin mission: the more companies route payments and provide liquidity, the better the Lightning network becomes, encouraging more usage, adoption, and value. The payments stack of Bitcoin-as-money is no longer hypothetical. This week, Square announced that beginning November 10, all four million+ small businesses with Square terminals will be enabled to accept Bitcoin payments using Lightning. Earlier this year, at Bitcoin 2025, Cash App reported that already 25% of its Bitcoin payments were processed over Lightning.
That combination — treasury companies deploying Bitcoin as productive capital, plus payment volume scaling via Lightning-enabled merchant — represents a powerful inflection point for the Bitcoin economy.
From passive reserve to active utility
What does it look like in practice? A treasury company holding Bitcoin can lend or deploy that liquidity into the Lightning network. They can sell liquidity to market participants, new entrants, payment originators, consumer wallets, that need inbound or outbound channel depth, using tools like Amboss. As payments fly through the network, treasurers also earn routing fees: every payment forwarded is a small reward, compounding with scale.
Unlike custodial yield products (which often introduce counterparty risk or centralized control), this yield is native to the network. Custody is always maintained by simply placing liquidity in the network and letting market participants route through the users node. Not only does this uphold the Bitcoin ethos of sovereignty, it enhances Bitcoin’s utility.
Consider two proof points:
- LQWD (a publicly traded company) has disclosed 24% annualized yield in their filings. Their conservative baseline models illustrate how routing and liquidity provision can produce significant returns.
- Cash App / Block has publicly highlighted a 9.79% yield on Lightning: their growth in Lightning-processed payments suggests upward pressure on demand for liquidity, which yields direct revenue upside for liquidity providers and node operators.
These case studies validate that non-custodial yield on bitcoin is not theoretical, it is happening now, and the momentum is real.
The virtuous circle: payments, liquidity, and network growth
As more merchants accept Bitcoin via Lightning, payment volume increases, and with it, the need for liquidity that treasury companies are uniquely positioned to supply. This growing demand for liquidity fuels more routing activity, which in turn enhances node performance, channel connectivity, latency, and reliability across the network.
A recent Fidelity Digital Assets report highlights how Lightning is expanding Bitcoin’s use cases from passive store-of-value to an active, scalable medium of exchange, one where liquidity providers play a central role in improving the payment experience. Better infrastructure attracts more users and frictionless transactions, reinforcing a flywheel of growth anchored in Bitcoin’s fixed supply and utility as sound money.
That flywheel works through alignment: treasury companies deploying capital, merchants adopting Lightning, and users seeking instant, low-cost settlement. The recent Cash App and Square integration may be the largest catalyst yet, connecting millions of merchants to that network in one sweeping motion.
Why this yield is unlike any other
- Non-custodial: Users / treasury companies never relinquish control. Yield accrues organically from network utility, not from trusting a third party.
- Bitcoin-native compounding: The asset both users and treasury companies hold is the asset generating income. There is no swapping or converting tokens; Bitcoin does all the work in the network.
- Scarcity leverage: With Bitcoin capped at 21 million, each additional unit of productive capital becomes more meaningful in a world of increasing network utilization.
- Network alignment: Yielding via routing directly reinforces the health of the Lightning payments infrastructure, leading to less friction, more liquidity and better UX.
- Scalability upside: Because every added payment and route is additive, the yield opportunity scales as the network scales.
These properties contrast sharply with fixed yields, staking derivatives, or custodial interest accounts, which often introduce centralization, dilution, or counterparty risk.
The challenges and guardrails
This model is not without its challenges, however.
Operating Lightning Network nodes demands technical expertise to manage channel strategies, handle failed HTLCs (Hash Time Locked Contracts) and rebalance liquidity, although B2B enterprise solutions can simplify these challenges, making it so businesses do not have the deal with this complexity.
Poorly placed liquidity risks idling or missed opportunities, exposing capital to inefficiencies. Network congestion and competitive fee undercutting can compress routing fees, making a differentiated strategy and strong reputation critical for success. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s market volatility, driven by unpredictable macro shifts, poses risks for liquidity providers despite yields being denominated in Bitcoin.
Nevertheless, these risks are well understood operational and infrastructure challenges in the Lightning community; the upside makes them worth navigating.
Moving on from the HODL-only mindset
If you manage a Bitcoin treasury, now is the moment to shift from passive reserve to active participant. Don’t just HODL, put your Bitcoin to work for the network. Evaluate your node strategy. Partner with Lightning infrastructure providers. Explore novel routing strategies. Stake your claim in the payments layer of Bitcoin.
The convergence we’re seeing, from Cash App’s push to Lightning payments to the expanding opportunity for native yield, signals the start of the Lightning-era for treasuries. The companies that lean in now will reap advantages: yield, differentiation, and mission alignment in one package.
When treasuries stop treating Bitcoin as a static asset and start using it as a living network, they discover what’s been there all along: a yield engine powered by real payments, not speculation.
