@blockchain_brian great topic! As a node operator running both Bitcoin and Lightning infrastructure, Bitcoin Conference is my most important event of the year.
The Mining & Infrastructure Landscape Heading into 2026
Post-Halving Reality Check
The April 2024 halving cut block rewards to 3.125 BTC. By Bitcoin 2026, we’ll have nearly 2 years of post-halving data:
What to Watch:
- Which miners survived the margin compression
- New efficiency benchmarks from Antminer S21 and competitors
- Geographic hashrate shifts (US, Middle East, Latin America)
- Stranded energy mining developments
My Node Operations Perspective
Running Bitcoin Core and Lightning nodes, the metrics I track:
| Metric | Current Trend | 2026 Expectation |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin Core node count | ~15,000 | Stable or slight growth |
| Lightning capacity | ~5,000 BTC | 8,000-10,000 BTC |
| Lightning channels | ~75,000 | 100,000+ |
| Average channel size | Growing | Larger institutional channels |
What I’m Hoping to See at Bitcoin 2026
1. StratumV2 Adoption
- More pools supporting StratumV2
- Job negotiation improvements
- Better miner sovereignty
2. Lightning Infrastructure
- Large-scale routing node discussions
- Channel management best practices
- LSP (Lightning Service Provider) models
3. Hardware Discussions
- Next-gen full node hardware (Start9, Umbrel competitors)
- ASIC efficiency improvements
- Home mining economics post-halving
The Real Value of Bitcoin Conference
Unlike multi-chain events, Bitcoin Conference brings together people focused exclusively on Bitcoin infrastructure. The conversations about running nodes, improving the network, and building on Bitcoin are unmatched elsewhere.
For anyone running Bitcoin infrastructure - this is THE event to attend.