Lightning Minimum Channel Size: Open a Channel From 150,000 Sats
Our "Small Channels" node accepts channels as small as 150,000 sats.
It is well connected to major routing nodes, so you can open a channel with it and then route payments to the rest of the network.
02a98c86ef366ce226aad6e7706959456e1701058915c3cbf527b37da143bb1441@146.190.169.210:973502a98c86ef366ce226aad6e7706959456e1701058915c3cbf527b37da143bb1441@cv3gfm5psg7jm2usffttijfysymnaz5rzbtqto54vngkwhjp542mdzyd.onion:9735The error
Many large routing nodes, including The Megalith Node, refuse channels below a minimum size, typically 1,000,000 sats or more. If you try to open a smaller one, LND stops with an error like this:
[lncli] rpc error: code = Unknown desc = received funding error
from [...]: chan_id=[...],
err=chan size of 0.0015 BTC is below min chan size of 0.01 BTC
The first number is the channel you asked for (here 150,000 sats); the second is the other node's minimum (here 1,000,000 sats).
Nothing was spent. The other node turned the channel down before your node built the funding transaction, so no bitcoin left your wallet and no fee was paid. You can try again with a bigger channel, or with a node that accepts smaller ones.
Why nodes set a minimum
Every channel costs an on-chain transaction to open and another to close, and a channel can only route as much as its capacity. For a routing node, a 150,000-sat channel rarely earns back what it costs to keep, so most set a floor. In LND it's the minchansize setting in lnd.conf; your own node has one too (see How big should my channels be?).
Open a channel to Megalith Small Channels
The Small Channels node exists to get new nodes onto Lightning with a small first channel. In October 2026 it had 53 public channels and about 1.55 BTC of capacity, including channels to the main Megalith node, Strike, VIVA and LNBiG (see it on mempool.space).
With LND, connect to it, then open the channel. --local_amt is the channel size in sats, 150,000 or more:
lncli connect 02a98c86ef366ce226aad6e7706959456e1701058915c3cbf527b37da143bb1441@146.190.169.210:9735
lncli openchannel --node_key 02a98c86ef366ce226aad6e7706959456e1701058915c3cbf527b37da143bb1441 --local_amt 150000
If your node only runs over Tor, use the Tor URI from the panel above in lncli connect. How to open a channel walks through the same steps with The Megalith Node, including what to expect while the funding transaction confirms.
Opening the channel is free on our side: you pay only the on-chain fee for the funding transaction. We run this node as a public service; there's no 3-month guarantee as with a paid LSP channel, and a channel that goes a long time without any payments in either direction may be closed. See My Megalith channel closed.
Other ways around the minimum
- Open a bigger channel. The Megalith Node accepts channels from 1,000,000 sats and is one of the larger routing nodes on the network.
- Need to receive, not send? A channel you open starts with all the funds on your side, so you can send but can't receive until you've spent some. To receive straight away, buy an inbound channel from Megalith LSP, from 150,000 sats.
- Don't want to run a node? Rizful is a free Lightning account with a Lightning address. No channels to manage.