Bitcoin infrastructure company Voltage has introduced Voltage Credit, a renewable line of credit.

Today we’re launching Voltage Credit. 👀

The industry’s first programmatic revolving line of credit built on top of Bitcoin payment rails. ⚡

Send payments with instant finality over BTC/Lightning.

Repay your credit line in USD from a standard bank account or in Bitcoin.

Pay…

— Voltage ⚡ (@voltage_cloud) February 19, 2026

This product enables businesses to make instant payments via the Lightning Network (LN), repaying debts in dollars from a standard bank account.

It is designed for companies that want to utilize micropayment networks without holding digital assets on their balance sheets. Voltage representatives explained to The Block that this initiative aims to address a long-standing issue in corporate finance.

Killer Feature

Traditional banks typically do not extend credit to businesses based on income from digital assets. Meanwhile, crypto lending platforms often require Bitcoin to be locked as collateral, which introduces tax risks and ties capital to the volatility of the asset.

Voltage's solution relies on assessing the borrower's revenue. Credit limits are set and adjusted based on the actual transaction volume within the company's infrastructure.

“Until now, using Bitcoin for payments meant managing cryptocurrency on the balance sheet. Voltage Credit eliminates this compromise. Make instant payments through Lightning in dollars or Bitcoin based on business needs and direct capital towards growth. This is how Bitcoin infrastructure for enterprises should look,” said Voltage CEO Graham Krizek.

The company clarified that there are no fees for opening a credit line. A fixed annual rate applies to any outstanding balance.

Details about this new solution emerged shortly after a $1 million transfer in LN between Secure Digital Markets and Kraken using Voltage's infrastructure. The first seven-figure payment on the network was processed almost instantly with minimal fees.

Infrastructure and Payments in Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol (L2) for the Bitcoin network that enables transactions outside the main blockchain.

A user opens a payment channel with a standard on-chain transfer, allowing for multiple instant operations within the network. When the channel is closed, the final balance is recorded on the base layer (L1). This solution significantly reduces fees and speeds up transaction processing.

Fidelity analysts identified LN as an effective approach to scaling payments on the Bitcoin network. They estimate that the protocol's capabilities have already extended beyond typical P2P transfers. In 2024, the number of business integrations increased, confirming the protocol's demand for small digital asset transactions.

In recent years and months, well-known platforms have added support for Lightning. In April last year, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase integrated micropayments and later reported that the protocol accounted for 15% of the exchange's Bitcoin transaction volume. The fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake acquired $10 million in Bitcoin eight months after launching LN payments across all its locations in the U.S. This new option helped the company increase sales by 15%.

Lightning infrastructure is increasingly being adopted by traditional financial services. In August 2025, fintech company SoFi integrated Lightspark solutions for international transfers. The system converts dollars to Bitcoin in real-time, transfers funds via LN, and immediately converts them to local currency.  

On February 11, Lightning Labs released a set of open-source tools. This allows AI agents to manage LN nodes and make payments without identification and API keys. The release included seven compatible modules, enabling autonomous systems to programmatically interact with nodes and pay requests according to the L402 standard.

Mixed Statistics

According to a report by River, the volume of Lightning payments surpassed $1 billion in November. However, the number of transactions for that month was approximately 21% lower than in August 2021 (5.22 million compared to 6.6 million).

Comparison of volumes and the number of LN transactions over different periods. Source: River.

A possible explanation is the significant increase in the average transfer amount due to widespread support from major exchanges:

Dynamics of the average LN transaction value and protocol support from trading platforms. Source: River.

“Today, the primary use case for Lightning transactions is depositing and withdrawing funds from exchanges. Typically, these are large-sum operations,” researchers explained.

At the beginning of January, the LN capacity in dollar terms exceeded $500 million, then dropped to around $340 million. In the same month, the Bitcoin capacity reached a peak of over 5700 BTC—55% higher than the minimum of 3730 BTC recorded last August.

In the context of DeFi, the capacity of the micropayment network appears modest compared to the TVL of leading BTCFi protocols like Babylon or Lombard.

Top 5 protocols in the BTCFi segment. Source: DefiLlama. 

As of this writing, there are 15,716 payment channels operating in the Lightning Network, connected by 5,335 nodes, according to 1ML.

Recall that Amboss Technologies launched an LN platform for P2P trading called RailsX.