Safe Digital Markets (SDM), an institutional buying and selling and lending desk, stated it despatched a $1 million fee to Kraken over the Lightning Community on Jan. 28.
SDM described the switch as the most important publicly reported Lightning transaction to this point and framed it as a proof-of-concept for seven-figure funds between regulated counterparties.
How the fee was routed
SDM stated the fee cleared in 0.43 seconds.
It was routed by way of Voltage’s managed Lightning infrastructure, which presents node administration, pre-provisioned liquidity, and uptime ensures aimed toward exchanges and buying and selling desks.
Voltage CEO Graham Krizek stated the transaction marked an necessary milestone for institutional bitcoin funds:
“[It highlights] its means to satisfy enterprise necessities.”
Prior “report” was about $140,000
The beforehand publicized single-payment milestone was about 1.24 BTC, roughly $140,000 on the time.
SDM’s switch, against this, was a clear seven-figure fee in a single transaction.
Lightning capability has rebounded
Lightning metrics stay comparatively small in contrast with bitcoin’s total market worth, with most documented utilization skewing towards smaller funds.
Public Lightning channel capability fell from over 5,400 BTC in late 2023 to about 4,200 BTC by mid-2025, earlier than rebounding to a brand new all-time excessive of over 5,600 BTC by December.
Bitfinex beforehand capped Lightning deposits at 0.04 BTC, earlier than elevating limits to 0.5 BTC per fee and a pair of BTC per channel.
Constancy Digital Belongings and Blockstream have additionally pointed to institutional potential, citing capability development since 2020 and ongoing Lightning software program enhancements aimed toward decrease latency and higher service-provider assist.