Lightspark and Cross River have partnered to enable round-the-clock fiat settlement via the Bitcoin Network and faster payment rails. Following this announcement, Lightspark and Cross River have announced a partnership to support 24/7 real-time payment settlement through the process of combining Lightspark’s Bitcoin-native payments platform with Cross River’s multi-rail banking infrastructure. The collaboration aims to remove traditional processing windows and expand liquidity across B2B, cross-border, and retail payment use cases.
Under the arrangement, Lightspark users will be able to settle transactions at any time via RTP and FedNow rails, with Cross River’s subledgers providing real-time record-keeping of transaction activity and balances. In addition, Lightspark’s platform will enable financial institutions, payment service providers, and businesses to process payments and buy and sell bitcoin through the Bitcoin Network. According to the official press release, Cross River, a US-based technology infrastructure provider offering embedded financial solutions, contributes a proprietary API-first banking core to the partnership.
Its subledger architecture is set to support real-time balance tracking, while its multi-rail capabilities will allow settlement to occur outside traditional banking hours. Lightspark will facilitate the Bitcoin Network layer, bridging digital asset infrastructure with fiat settlement. The partnership addresses a broader shift in payment infrastructure demand.
Stablecoin transaction volume grew 83% year-over-year in 2025, according to figures cited in the announcement, reflecting accelerating adoption of digital asset rails and the need for supporting settlement infrastructure capable of handling that scale. The collaboration is positioned to serve a range of transaction types. Through the process of enabling instant transfers across B2B payments, cross-border transactions, and retail use cases, the partnership targets segments where settlement delays and liquidity constraints have historically created friction. The always-on settlement model is intended to reduce reliance on legacy timing windows tied to traditional correspondent banking and batch-processing systems.
Cross River has built its positioning around API-based core banking and embedded financial solutions, with a focus on fintech partnerships. Its involvement in the digital asset space reflects a broader trend of regulated banking infrastructure providers extending their capabilities to serve crypto-adjacent use cases, particularly as institutional and commercial demand for real-time digital asset settlement grows. Lightspark, for its part, has focused on building payment infrastructure on top of the Bitcoin Network, including through the Lightning Network, targeting use cases that require speed and global reach. The partnership with Cross River adds a regulated fiat settlement layer to that infrastructure, which may broaden its applicability for businesses requiring both digital asset functionality and compliant banking rails.
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