Weekly Brief 2025/51

Lightning capacity reached a reported all-time high (5,637 BTC) while merchant discovery scaled via BTC Map’s “21k places” dashboard view. The biggest enterprise signal was Steak ’n Shake offering employees across 400+ locations an option to be paid in Bitcoin, alongside infrastructure updates spanning South African QR-network reach and a Bolt Card setup in Kenya.

Executive Summary

Lightning Network capacity reached a new reported all-time high of 5,637 BTC (Dec 16, 2025), alongside claims that capacity growth is coming from multiple participants rather than a single large contributor. In the U.S., Steak ’n Shake signaled a notable payroll move by offering employees across 400+ locations the option to be paid in Bitcoin (Dec 17, 2025). Merchant discovery and visibility also continued to scale, with BTC Map pointing to coverage of 21k places via its dashboard (Dec 17, 2025). Across emerging-market payment rails, sources highlighted large QR-network reach in South Africa and a Bolt Card setup demonstrated in Kenya, underscoring ongoing efforts to make Lightning spendable in everyday contexts.

1) Merchant & Enterprise Adoption

The clearest adoption signal this week was enterprise-led expansion—both through payroll options and continued growth in merchant counts.

• (Dec 17, 2025) Steak ’n Shake will give employees of its 400+ locations the option to be paid salary in Bitcoin.

• (Dec 13, 2025) Steak ’n Shake separately stated: “If you work at Steak n Shake we’ll pay you in Bitcoin” @SteaknShake.

• (Dec 14, 2025) User Wicked created an animated map from BTCMap data illustrating 24,113 bitcoin-accepting merchants worldwide.

• (Dec 16, 2025) A U.S.-focused datapoint circulated claiming 100 barbershops accept Bitcoin.

• (Dec 12, 2025) Bolivia acceptance counts were reported as growing to 72 places that accept Bitcoin, including a newly welcomed travel agency (Olympiatravel) that takes bitcoin as payment.

2) Payment Infrastructure

Infrastructure updates emphasized practical spending pathways—plugging Lightning into existing merchant networks and extending card-like experiences to new geographies.

• (Dec 17, 2025) Bitcoin Ekasi highlighted a Bolt Card setup working in Kenya for BitBiashara, “powered” by a self-hosted BTCPay Server and Blink.

• (Dec 11, 2025) An estimate suggested that in South Africa, users can pay via Lightning at any vendor that accepts Zapper, Scan To Pay, or Peach Payments, citing 700k locations all across SA (explicitly framed as a “guess”).

• (Dec 12 & Dec 15, 2025) Airbtc promoted property bookings that can be paid with Bitcoin, highlighting listings including SantiChanti Surf House and La Perla Beach House (Room 2) with direct booking links.

3) Usage Metrics

This week’s measurable signals were concentrated in Lightning network capacity and merchant-discovery coverage.

• (Dec 16, 2025) Lightning Network capacity was reported at an all-time high of 5,637 BTC, with an accompanying link to Amboss stats.

• (Dec 16, 2025) Amboss framed the rise as broad-based participation: “It’s not just one company that’s putting more bitcoin into the lightning network; it’s across the board.”

• (Dec 17, 2025) BTC Map reported: “Just clicked through 21k places,” pointing to its dashboard.

4) Regulatory & Policy Developments

No government regulatory actions were surfaced in this week’s provided sources; the main policy-like change was corporate, via payroll options.

• (Dec 17, 2025) Steak ’n Shake announced employees across 400+ locations can opt to be paid salary in Bitcoin.
• (Dec 13, 2025) Steak ’n Shake reiterated the same intent in a separate statement about paying workers in Bitcoin.

5) Strategic Outlook

The week’s signals collectively emphasize a payments trajectory shaped by (a) enterprise integrations and employee on-ramps, (b) infrastructure that “inherits” merchant coverage through existing rails, and (c) improving network capacity and directory visibility.

• Payroll as an adoption vector: giving employees the option to be paid in Bitcoin across 400+ locations creates a recurring, real-world payments link between wages and spending.
• Rail leverage: South African QR networks and related payment gateways were repeatedly framed as a way to extend Bitcoin spending to very large existing merchant footprints.
• Spendability infrastructure: the Kenya Bolt Card setup (BTCPay Server + blinkbtc) highlights continued work on tap-to-pay-style experiences built on Lightning.
• Network and discovery: rising reported Lightning capacity and BTC Map’s “21k places” navigation point to expanding capacity and improved visibility for where Bitcoin can be used.

Taken together, this week’s updates show Bitcoin payments progressing through a mix of enterprise decisions (notably payroll), integration into existing merchant networks (QR rails), and supporting network/directory signals (Lightning capacity and mapping coverage). If these strands continue to align—more ways to earn in Bitcoin, more interoperable checkout paths, and clearer merchant discovery—Bitcoin’s utility as a medium of exchange is reinforced by practical, repeatable payment loops rather than one-off announcements.

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