I still have a few open channels in Phoenix Wallet (created years ago, when on-chain fees were much lower).
Those channels are almost empty, but have receiving liquidity. There's no point for Phoenix Wallet to close them, as it would only cost them transaction fees.
A closure of such channels may make sense for Phoenix. I guess, many Phoenix users have given up using their wallets with zero balance. And now Phoenix should have a lot of outbound liquidity in such channels. But Phoenix cannot use it, because other sides of all those channels are “leaves” of the LN, so they don’t route transfers. The further, the more Phoenix’ money are locked in such channels. There must be a moment when Phoenix cannot afford too lock as much money. At that moment, the channels will be closed.
It’s better for them to close those channels when onchain fees are not too high. But the more popular Bitcoin becomes, the more people want to make transactions. So, the probability of small fees are not very high in the future. Phoenix must decide soon, what to do with such channels.
