Technical progress on Bitcoin's Lightning Network does not establish mainstream usability. Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc alleged that more than 80% of Lightning payments use custodial services and accused supporters of misrepresenting the user experience. Lightning's privacy prevents public network data alone from establishing the custodial share. Amboss chief executive Jesse Shrader rejected the claim and said simulations showed a 99.66% success rate for $100 payments, but simulations do not establish network-wide performance in practice. Breez marketing lead Danny Stagg said non-custodial user experience is now comparable with custodial services. River estimated $1.17 billion in Lightning transaction volume across 5.22 million transactions in November 2025, below the August 2023 peak of 6.6 million transactions. Payment volume, network capacity and developer interest measure different things, and none alone establishes ease of use.