Institutional trading and lending desk Secure Digital Markets (SDM) said it sent a $1 million payment to crypto exchange Kraken over the Lightning Network on Jan. 28.
SDM said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph that the transfer is the largest publicly reported Lightning payment to date and serves as a proof‑of‑concept for seven‑figure settlements between regulated counterparties.
The payment cleared in 0.43 seconds and was routed through Voltage’s managed Lightning infrastructure, which offers node management, pre‑provisioned liquidity and uptime guarantees aimed at exchanges and trading desks.
The previously publicized single‑payment “record” was about 1.24 BTC — roughly $140,000 at the time — underscoring how rare six‑figure, let alone seven‑figure, Lightning transactions have been.
Voltage CEO Graham Krizek called the move “an important moment for Lightning and for institutional Bitcoin payments,” saying a $1 million transfer showcased the network’s ability to meet enterprise requirements.
Lightning metrics remain small, but growing
The transfer arrives amid mixed Lightning network metrics. Public channel capacity fell from over 5,400 BTC in late 2023 to about 4,200 BTC by mid‑2025, then rebounded to a new high of more than 5,600 BTC by December. That capacity is still small relative to Bitcoin’s market size, and most documented usage has skewed toward smaller payments.
Exchanges have been conservative: Bitfinex long capped Lightning deposits at 0.04 BTC before recently increasing limits to 0.5 BTC per payment and 2 BTC per channel. Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO and Bitfinex CTO, said Lightning began as a retail payments experiment but has shown predictable settlement, lower costs and reduced on‑chain congestion — attributes that matter for institutional use.
Fidelity and Blockstream see institutional potential
Fidelity Digital Assets, using Voltage data in a 2025 report, argued Lightning not only expands Bitcoin’s utility but also strengthens its investment case. Fidelity noted average Lightning capacity has risen about 384% since 2020 and called the network a “transformative opportunity” for financial institutions.
Blockstream made a similar case in its Q4 2025 update, highlighting Core Lightning releases focused on latency reduction and LSP (Lightning Service Provider) support. It promoted its Greenlight platform as a way for apps, exchanges and services to offer trust‑minimized Lightning functionality with minimal infrastructure burden and outlined an enterprise‑focused roadmap.
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