Lightning payouts from mining pools: lowest thresholds, setup and troubleshooting

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Short version

Three Bitcoin mining pools document Lightning payouts: Braiins Pool, Ocean and F2Pool. Braiins Pool pays from 1 sat with no fee. Ocean pays via BOLT12 with no minimum before its on-chain threshold. F2Pool allows manual Lightning withdrawals from 0.0005 BTC. Lightning lets small miners collect BTC in days instead of months, but you need a wallet that stays online, has inbound channel capacity and supports the payout format the pool requires. If your farm already clears the on-chain threshold every day, Lightning adds steps without saving you much.

Which pools pay over Lightning and what are the thresholds?

As of 2026-09-15, two pools send regular Lightning payouts (Braiins Pool and Ocean). One allows manual Lightning withdrawals below its normal threshold (F2Pool). Two services that are not traditional pools also support Lightning (NiceHash and Kryptex App). AntPool, ViaBTC, Foundry USA, Luxor and EMCD do not document Lightning payouts.

Threshold table, sorted by lowest Lightning minimum

Sources: academy.braiins.com/braiins-pool/rewards-and-payouts, ocean.xyz and ocean.xyz/docs/lightning, f2pool.zendesk.com, NiceHash blog, kryptex.com/en/fees.

How long you wait for the on-chain threshold depends on your hashrate. Plug your machine into the mining calculator and divide the threshold by your daily BTC.

On-chain vs Lightning threshold comparison

Step-by-step setup at each pool

Braiins Pool

Braiins Pool pays over Lightning once a day at 09:00 UTC. Regular payouts go to a Lightning Address. Manual withdrawals accept a BOLT11 invoice. The cap is 0.005 BTC (500,000 sats) per Lightning transaction; anything above goes on-chain for free.

What you need: A Lightning wallet that gives you a Lightning Address (format: user@provider.com). Custodial wallets like Wallet of Satoshi or Alby provide one. Phoenix from v2.3.1 also provides an experimental Lightning Address (BIP-353) in the format user@phoenixwallet.me, but its primary output is BOLT12 offers.

Setup steps:

1. Log in to Braiins Pool.
2. Open the Funds tab and select the Financial Account you want to configure.
3. In the Actions column, click Edit rule.
4. Enter your Lightning Address (user@provider.com format).
5. Set your payout trigger (by time or by amount).
6. Optionally enable Payout setup lock once you are satisfied.
7. The next payout goes out at 09:00 UTC.

Source: academy.braiins.com/braiins-pool/rewards-and-payouts (checked 2026-09-28).

You can also paste a BOLT11 invoice for a manual (one-time) withdrawal. The pool processes it within 60 minutes and allows one manual withdrawal per 24 hours. After three failed delivery attempts the payout is marked failed and the balance stays on the pool. Braiins Pool does not support LNURL withdrawals and has no ETA for BOLT12.

Ocean

Ocean uses BOLT12 offers for Lightning payouts. Before your balance reaches the on-chain threshold of 0.01048576 BTC, Ocean pays you over Lightning on every new block. Once you hit the threshold, payout goes on-chain.

What you need: A wallet that creates BOLT12 offers. Phoenix generates them (Receive tab, from v2.3.1). Zeus supports BOLT12 only when connected to a remote Core Lightning node (release notes v0.9.2). BlueWallet does not publish BOLT12 support.

Setup steps:

1. Create a BOLT12 offer in your wallet. In Phoenix, open the Receive tab. Do not set an amount; Ocean needs to pay varying sums.
2. Log in to ocean.xyz. Go to My Stats, then click Configuration next to "Next Block."
3. Paste your static BOLT12 offer. Choose "latest" or a specific block height, then click GENERATE.
4. Copy the unsigned message. Sign it with the private key of your payout address (BIP-322 or legacy signature). Tools that work: Electrum (Tools > Sign/Verify Message), Sparrow (Tools > Sign Message), Trezor Suite, Coldcard (Advanced > MicroSD), Ledger via Electrum.
5. Paste the signature and click CONFIRM.
6. Start mining. Ocean retries the Lightning payment every block until the on-chain threshold is reached.

Source: ocean.xyz/docs/lightning (checked 2026-09-28).

Pool fee is 2% (1% for miners building blocks with DATUM). No separate Lightning payment fee is published.

If your wallet is offline when Ocean tries to pay, the pool retries on every new block. Once the unpaid balance reaches 0.01048576 BTC, Ocean pays on-chain instead.

F2Pool

F2Pool allows Lightning only for manual withdrawals below its 0.005 BTC automatic payout threshold. Lightning minimum is 0.0005 BTC, fee is 0.000001 BTC per withdrawal.

What you need: A wallet that can generate a BOLT11 invoice for the exact withdrawal amount.

Setup steps (mobile app):

1. Log in to the F2Pool app.
2. Go to Revenue, then tap More.
3. Tap Manual Withdrawal and select Lightning Network.
4. Generate a BOLT11 invoice in your wallet for the amount you want.
5. Paste the invoice into F2Pool and confirm with your passkey (enable passkey authentication beforehand). The withdrawal is instant.

Manual withdrawal is available once per 30 days after mining stops. Source: f2pool.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059403792 (checked 2026-09-28).

Standard automatic payouts at 0.005 BTC still go on-chain with no transaction fee.

What format does the pool need from your wallet?

Sources: academy.braiins.com, ocean.xyz/docs/lightning, zeusln.com/blog/new-release-zeus-v0-9-2, bluewallet.io/docs (all checked 2026-09-15).

Custodial or self-custody wallet?

Zeus runs an embedded Lightning node on the phone (LDK or LND) and can manage a remote node. Phoenix manages channels itself and stays self-custodial. BlueWallet connects to Lightning through LNDHub. Sparrow has no native Lightning.

More on the tradeoff: custodial vs self-custody for mining payouts, and choosing a wallet for mining payouts.

Who pays the Lightning fee?

The pool fee is only half the picture.

1. Braiins Pool charges 0.0001 BTC per on-chain payout below 0.005 BTC. On a 0.001 BTC payout that is 10%. On the 0.0002 BTC minimum, 50%. Over Lightning the same payout costs nothing on the pool side.
2. F2Pool Lightning fee: 0.000001 BTC on the 0.0005 BTC minimum is 0.2%.
3. Kryptex App Lightning (2%) and on-chain (flat 0.00003 BTC) break even at 0.0015 BTC. Below that, Lightning is cheaper. Above it, on-chain wins.

On the wallet side, the actual costs are harder to calculate. Phoenix charges an on-chain mining fee plus a one-time inbound liquidity payment on the first incoming payment, but no satoshi figure for September 2026 is published. Zeus opens channels through its Olympus LSP at no upfront cost, or lets you buy inbound capacity for two weeks to twelve months; price not published.

Common errors and how to fix them

1. Wrong payout format

Symptom: Payout never goes out, or pool shows a format error.

Cause: Your wallet creates BOLT11 invoices but the pool needs a BOLT12 offer (Ocean) or Lightning Address (Braiins Pool regular payouts). Braiins Pool does not support BOLT12 and has no ETA for it.

Fix: Check the format table above. For Ocean, use Phoenix or a Core Lightning remote node through Zeus. For Braiins Pool regular payouts, you need a Lightning Address.

2. No inbound liquidity

Symptom: First payout fails or wallet asks you to open a channel first.

Cause: A brand-new self-custody wallet has no payment channel. Incoming payments need a channel with capacity on the remote side.

Fix: In Phoenix, the first incoming payment opens a channel automatically (costs an on-chain fee plus liquidity fee). In Zeus, the Olympus LSP opens a channel when a payment arrives. Custodial wallets handle this for you.

3. Wallet offline when pool tries to pay

Symptom: Payout stuck in pending or marked failed.

Cause: Lightning requires the receiver to be reachable at payment time.

What pools do:

• Ocean retries every block until the balance hits the on-chain threshold (0.01048576 BTC), then pays on-chain.
• Braiins Pool gives the invoice 24 hours (recommended). After three failed attempts, payout is marked failed and the balance stays on the pool.

Fix: Keep the wallet online around payout time. For Braiins Pool, that is around 09:00 UTC daily. Zeus Pay can accept payments while the app is closed. For Phoenix, this is not documented.

4. Routing failure

Symptom: Pool reports "no route" or the payment times out.

Cause: No path with enough capacity between the pool's node and your wallet.

Fix: Use a wallet connected to a well-connected LSP. NiceHash separates direct-channel withdrawals (free) from routed ones (dynamic fee) for this reason.

5. F2Pool "Failed to retrieve invoice routes"

Symptom: F2Pool shows the error "Failed to retrieve invoice routes" when you try a manual Lightning withdrawal.

Cause: The BOLT11 invoice you pasted cannot be routed from F2Pool's node.

Fix: Generate an invoice from a different wallet or platform and try again.

6. Per-transaction cap hit

Symptom: Part of the balance goes on-chain even though you set up Lightning.

Cause: Braiins Pool caps Lightning at 0.005 BTC per transaction. Kryptex App also caps at 0.005 BTC.

Fix: This is by design. Anything above the cap goes on-chain for free at Braiins Pool.

7. Software bugs in Lightning implementations

On 2026-08-27, Core Lightning developers asked node operators to install an upcoming security release and suggested taking nodes offline, with details under a 14-day embargo. If you run your own node, follow your implementation's release notes.

When Lightning is not worth it

Lightning adds little when:

• Daily earnings exceed the free on-chain payout level (0.005 BTC at both Braiins Pool and F2Pool).
• Coins go to cold storage anyway. Moving from Lightning to a hardware wallet means one more on-chain transaction.
• Your accounting requires on-chain TXIDs for every receipt.

Lightning makes sense when:

• Your hashrate needs weeks or months to reach the on-chain threshold (check the calculator).
• The pool charges a flat on-chain fee that eats a large share of small payouts.
• You want to avoid dozens of small UTXOs that are expensive to consolidate.

How to verify a Lightning payout arrived

Compare three records: pool payout history, wallet incoming payments, and the payment hash or preimage if the wallet shows it. Block explorers do not show Lightning payments.

1. In the pool dashboard, find the payout line with amount, time and status. "Failed" means the coins are still on your pool balance.
2. In the wallet, find the incoming payment matching the amount and timestamp.
3. Compare the preimage if available. The Braiins Pool Payouts API returns `invoice` and `preimage` fields (preimage can be empty until confirmed). Ocean does not publish dashboard or API payout history with these fields.
4. Confirm the pool balance dropped by the same amount.
5. On your first Lightning payout, wait for one small payment to arrive before you stop watching.

Tax notes on frequent Lightning payouts

Lightning does not change what the income is, but it does change the record volume. Daily or more frequent payouts create many small entries.

1. The pool dashboard is your primary record. None of the three pools publishes how long payout history is kept. Braiins Pool exports CSV and JSON. F2Pool shows TXIDs in Payout Records. Export monthly.
2. A Lightning wallet shows payment hashes, not on-chain TXIDs. Keep both exports. A block explorer cannot confirm a Lightning payment later.
3. Whether each small payout counts as taxable income on receipt depends on your jurisdiction. Ask a local tax adviser.

FAQ

Can I get automatic Lightning payouts at F2Pool?

No. As of 2026-09-11, Lightning at F2Pool is only for manual withdrawals when your balance is between 0.0005 BTC and 0.005 BTC. The standard auto-payout at 0.005 BTC goes on-chain with no transaction fee.

Is there a maximum per Lightning payout?

Braiins Pool: 0.005 BTC (500,000 sats) per transaction. Anything above goes on-chain for free. Kryptex App: also 0.005 BTC. Ocean: no numeric cap published. Ocean only says not to set an amount in the offer so the pool can pay varying sums.

Can I switch between Lightning and on-chain at the same pool?

Yes. At Braiins Pool, the payout rule is set per financial account under Funds: network, address and trigger. Neither Braiins Pool nor Ocean publishes a hold period after changing the destination. Braiins Pool offers a separate Payout setup lock. Ocean notes that if you change your address or stop mining, a remaining balance from 0.00065536 BTC is paid at the pool's discretion "if practicable."

Can the pool pay Lightning straight to an exchange?

Only if the exchange accepts Lightning deposits in the format the pool sends. We did not verify exchange support. Test with the smallest payout first.

Do I need to keep my wallet online 24/7?

For Braiins Pool, payouts go out at 09:00 UTC daily. Your wallet needs to be reachable around that time. After three failed attempts the payout is marked failed. For Ocean, the pool retries every block, so brief downtime is fine. Zeus Pay can accept payments while the app is closed; for Phoenix this is not documented.

What happens if I lose my Lightning wallet backup?

With a custodial wallet, the service holds your balance. With self-custody (Phoenix, Zeus), losing your backup means losing your channel state and potentially your funds. Back up your seed phrase and, for Zeus, your channel state. Phoenix uses a single on-chain seed for recovery.

What the sources do not publish

• How long Braiins Pool, Ocean and F2Pool keep payout history.
• Ocean's maximum Lightning payout per transaction and any separate Lightning fee.
• Whether Ocean shows a payment hash or preimage in payout history.
• Current September 2026 channel opening and inbound liquidity costs in Phoenix and Zeus.
• Whether Phoenix can receive a payment while the app is fully closed.
• Any hold period when changing the payout method at Braiins Pool or Ocean.

This article contains referral links to mining pools (marked as sponsored). We may receive a reward if you register through them. This does not change the figures or the order of rows in the tables: the terms are taken from the pools' official pages.