Secure Digital Markets (SDM) has completed a $1 million Bitcoin transaction over the Lightning Network in a pilot settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, marking what the firms say is the largest publicly reported Lightning payment to date.

The transaction, executed on Jan. 28 and valued at $1 million at the time, reportedly settled nearly instantly and with minimal fees.

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According to the official announcement, it was facilitated using enterprise Lightning infrastructure from Voltage, a Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term payments and infrastructure provider focused on institutional clients.

Lightning is often viewed as experimental. It’s time to see it in production.

We successfully sent $1,000,000 over the network.
Here’s what that execution looked like.

Big thanks to @krakenfx & @voltage_cloud pic.twitter.com/MoeBMDeRHV

— Secure Digital Markets (@SD_Markets) February 5, 2026

Pointing to Faster Settlement for Institutions

“We have moved past the era of questioning Bitcoin's institutional capacity. Now, the only remaining variable is how quickly lagging institutions will abandon legacy systems,” said Mostafa Al-Mashita, Co-Founder and Director of Sales & Trading at SDM.

While the network has been widely used for small consumer payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term, its suitability for large institutional settlements has remained an open question.

Traditional Bitcoin transactions can take minutes or longer to confirm and are subject to fluctuating fees, factors that complicate treasury operations and inter-institution settlements.

SDM said the pilot demonstrated that Lightning could support use cases such as internal treasury movements, large-value settlements, and transfers between trading venues without the delays associated with on-chain settlement.

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Kraken, one of the longest-operating crypto exchanges, has supported Lightning for retail payments for several years. The firm said the transaction reflects growing demand from institutional clients for faster settlement options.

Cutting Reliance on Legacy Payment Rails

The transaction relied on Voltage’s managed Lightning infrastructure, which provides liquidity management, node uptime, and operational guarantees designed to meet institutional requirements.

Revolut Launches Bitcoin Lightning Payments in European Markets

Digital bank Revolut announced that it will cooperate with Lightspark to launch a payment function based on the Bitcoin Lightning Network in the UK and some European Economic Area countries. This move aims to use …

— Bpay News (@bpaynews) May 7, 2025

Lightning is a second-layer network built on Bitcoin that enables faster and cheaper payments by moving transactions off the base blockchain.

The network is getting a boost giant fintech firms. Last year, Revolut announced a collaboration with Lightspark to enable payments over the Bitcoin-based Lightning Network, aiming to streamline crypto transfers for users in the UK and selected European markets.

Lightspark, founded by former PayPal executive David Marcus, positions itself as a gateway to the “Money Grid,” a decentralized network for instant global payments. Through this infrastructure, Revolut aims to upgrade its crypto services by enabling smoother Bitcoin transfers.