Recent Advances in Global Payment Channel Networks: A Systematic Literature Review

Payment Channel Networks (PCNs) are foundational to scaling blockchain-based transactions by enabling fast, low-cost, and off-chain micropayments. This systematic literature review presents a comprehensive analysis of the PCN research landscape, with a particular emphasis on the Lightning Network (LN). Using the PRISMA methodology, we analyze 313 peer-reviewed papers and preprints published between 2015 and mid-2025. We categorize contributions into new protocol designs, protocol enhancements, and analytical studies, and further classify them by focus areas: security, performance, economics, and network topology. Our findings show a strong research emphasis on novel protocols and security, while economic and topological aspects remain comparatively underexplored. We also evaluate the validation practices used in PCN research, identifying a widespread reliance on synthetic topologies and simulations, and a lack of standardized real-world benchmarks. This review provides a structured overview of key developments, highlights methodological gaps, and offers a final literature dataset to support future research and development in scalable blockchain payment infrastructures.