Record $1M Lightning transaction trials Bitcoin’s payment rail for institutions

Institutional trading and lending table Secure Digital Markets (SDM) said it sent a $1 cardinal outgo to cryptocurrency speech Kraken implicit the Lightning Network connected Jan. 28.

SDM claimed successful a Thursday connection shared with Cointelegraph that it is the largest publically reported Lightning transaction to day and a proof‑of‑concept for seven‑figure transfers betwixt regulated counterparties.

The outgo cleared successful 0.43 seconds and was routed via Voltage’s managed Lightning infrastructure, which provides node management, pre‑provisioned liquidity, and uptime guarantees aimed astatine exchanges and trading desks. 

The antecedently publicized “record” azygous outgo milestone was astir 1.24 Bitcoin (BTC), astir $140,000 astatine the time, highlighting the rarity of six‑figure Lightning payments, fto unsocial a clean, seven‑figure transportation successful 1 shot.

$1 cardinal successful a azygous Lightning transaction. Source: SDM

Voltage CEO Graham Krizek called the transaction an “important infinitesimal for Lightning and for organization Bitcoin payments,” saying that a $1 cardinal Lightning transportation highlighted the “its quality to conscionable endeavor requirements.”

Related: Lightning Network could nab 5% of stablecoin flows by 2028: Voltage CEO

Lightning metrics stay small, but growing

The transportation comes against a backdrop of mixed Lightning metrics. Capacity connected nationalist Lightning channels fell from implicit 5,400 BTC successful precocious 2023 to astir 4,200 BTC by mid 2025, earlier rebounding to a caller all-time precocious capacity of implicit 5,600 BTC by December. 

That’s inactive a tiny excavation of superior comparative to Bitcoin’s marketplace value, and astir documented usage has skewed toward smaller payments.

Bitfinex, for example, had agelong capped Lightning deposits astatine 0.04 BTC earlier precocious lifting limits to 0.5 BTC per outgo and 2 BTC per channel.

Fidelity and Blockstream spot organization potential

Fidelity Digital Assets, which published a 2025 report connected Lightning utilizing Voltage data, argued that the Lightning Network not lone enhanced Bitcoin’s inferior but besides bolstered its concern case.

Related: Tether leads $8M backing for Lightning startup focused connected stablecoins

Fidelity noted that mean Lightning capableness had accrued by 384% since 2020, adding that the web presented a “transformative accidental for some caller and existing fiscal institutions.”

Blockstream, a Bitcoin‑focused infrastructure company, pushed a akin communicative successful its Q4 2025 quarterly update.

The institution highlighted Core Lightning releases focused connected latency simplification and Lightning Service Provider (LSP) support, and pitched its Greenlight level arsenic a mode for apps, exchanges and services to connection trust‑minimized Lightning functionality with minimal infrastructure burden, with an explicit roadmap for enterprise‑focused Lightning deployments.

Big questions: Would Bitcoin past a 10-year powerfulness outage?