Bitcoin infrastructure company Voltage has announced the launch of Voltage Credit, a programmatic revolving line of credit designed to let businesses send payments with Lightning-style instant finality while still repaying the credit line in US dollars from a standard bank account or in Bitcoin.
In a Thursday release shared with Cointelegraph, the company, which provides enterprise-grade solutions for regulated businesses, said it was targeting chief financial officers and treasurers who wanted “send now, pay later” flexibility on the fastest payment rails available, without having to hold crypto on their balance sheet.
Rather than positioning it as just another Lightning-backed loan, Voltage pitched the product as an embedded piece of the payment flow, and the “first revolving line of credit that delivers instant payment finality and the capability to settle entirely in USD.”
CEO Graham Krizek told Cointelegraph that while players like Stripe and Block blended faster payments with working capital, they didn’t embed a revolving credit facility directly into Lightning payments in the way Voltage does, adding that Stripe did not support Lightning at all.
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In the Block model, he said, Lightning and credit remain separate workflows, whereas Voltage lets businesses originate credit and immediately use it to send or receive Lightning and stablecoin payments in real time, without pre-funding or manual treasury movements.
Underwriting against payment flows, not static BTC collateral
Voltage said it departs from traditional crypto lending by underwriting against payment flows rather than static Bitcoin (BTC) collateral.
Because Voltage already powers the underlying Bitcoin and Lightning infrastructure, it can size and adjust credit limits based on the volume a business processes through its platform.
“Voltage Credit is the lender of record in our platform,” Krizek said, noting that the company originated all loans itself and was not relying on a bank, card network or third-party fintech to fund the lines.
Krizek said the platform carries a 12% annual percentage yield (APY) that accrues daily on outstanding balances, with a flat platform fee design intended to avoid transaction-based pricing that gets more expensive as volumes scale.
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He said that revolving lines of credit themselves are not new, but what is new is bringing that “familiar financial construct” into an environment where Bitcoin and Lightning move money instantly and globally.
“We are effectively modernizing the revolving credit model so it operates at internet speed, rather than at the pace of legacy banking and card networks,” he said.
From $1 million pilot to institutional Lightning rails
The launch builds on Voltage’s recent role supporting a $1 million Lightning Network payment between Secure Digital Markets and Kraken on Feb. 5, a pilot that was framed as the biggest publicly reported transaction on the network.
Krizek said that episode was meant to test Lightning’s suitability for institutional-sized flows and that the network “is capable of handling massive payment volumes and is ready for institutional-scale use.”
$1 million in a single Lightning transaction. Source: SDMVoltage Credit is initially available to qualified US‑headquartered businesses, Krizek said, saying the company can currently serve all US states except California, Nevada, North Dakota, Vermont and Washington, D.C., as a registered commercial lender.
Early traction, he added, has come from exchanges, Bitcoin miners, gaming platforms and payment processors looking to reduce idle working capital, avoid forced BTC liquidations and bridge Bitcoin‑denominated revenue with US dollar‑denominated expenses without relying on unpredictable off‑ramps.
The Lightning Network reached an all-time capacity high in December 2025 of 5,606 BTC amid increased adoption from major crypto exchanges and functionality improvements. Demand has stalled somewhat since then, falling to 5,121 BTC as of Monday.
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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/voltage-launches-usd-settled-credit-line-bitcoin?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
