Jack Dorsey's Block, the parent company of Square, is reportedly earning a substantial 9.7% yield on its bitcoin holdings by operating a node on the Lightning Network. According to Miles Suter, Block's Bitcoin product lead, this yield is a result of "real bitcoin returns from our corporate holdings" achieved through efficient routing of payments across the Lightning Network. Suter made this announcement during his appearance at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas. The yield is facilitated by Square's Lightning service provider, which was established two years ago to enhance liquidity and efficiency on the network.
Ryan Gentry of Lightning Labs considers Suter's announcement to be the most significant news at the conference, estimating that the 9.7% yield translates to approximately $1 million annually. Historically, the Lightning Network was seen as a solution to bitcoin's scalability and speed issues by enabling micropayment channels to process transactions outside of the main blockchain. However, over time, some of these expectations have diminished due to the network's limitations, such as the need for inbound liquidity, which requires users to commit BTC to receive BTC. This can deter the adoption of smaller-scale nodes, hindering decentralization.
Nevertheless, Square views the layer-2 network as crucial to its plans for accelerating bitcoin payments adoption. Currently, one in four of Square's outbound bitcoin payments is processed on the Lightning Network, according to Suter. The company is also piloting Lightning-based payments at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, with plans to roll out the service to all eligible Square sellers in 2026.
Suter emphasized that by enabling real payments and making them faster and more convenient, the network becomes stronger, smarter, and more useful. He also stressed that bitcoin is no longer just an asset, but also a protocol, and Block is leading the effort to make it the world's best payment system.