Exchange Features

By Lightning Pay

The Lightning Pay exchange lets you buy, sell, save, and spend bitcoin — all from one place, without needing to think about the technical details underneath.

This article is a quick primer on what’s available in the Wallet App and how to get started.

Where to find exchange features

All exchange services live in one place.

From the app:

  1. Open the Lightning Pay tab
  2. Login
  3. Choose the service you want to use

From there, everything is guided and straightforward.

Buying bitcoin (and saving properly)

Buying bitcoin on Lightning Pay isn’t just about making a one-off purchase. It’s designed to help you save in bitcoin over time, even with small, regular amounts.

Behind the scenes, Lightning Pay:

  • Avoids creating lots of tiny on-chain UTXOs
  • Uses Lightning and batching where appropriate
  • Lets you accumulate bitcoin without being penalised later by high fees

This means you can buy regularly, even small amounts, without worrying about future transaction costs.

When you've saved enough in your Lightning Pay Wallet, easily send a larger amount to your Cold Storage Hardware Wallet.

If you want a deeper explanation of why this matters, see:
Saving in Bitcoin

How to buy bitcoin

  1. Open the Lightning Pay tab
  2. Select Buy
  3. Enter an amount
  4. Choose a Payment Bank Account
  5. Confirm the purchase

Your bitcoin is added to your wallet automatically.

Note: To make in-app purchases, you need at least one Akahu Connected bank account. 

Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA)

If you want to build a bitcoin balance gradually, you can set up an Auto-Buy directly in the app.

An Auto-Buy lets you:

  • Buy a fixed amount of bitcoin on a schedule
  • Reduce the need to time the market
  • Treat bitcoin like a long-term savings habit

Lightning Pay handles the execution and accumulation for you.

Read more on Dollar Cost Averaging.

How to set up a DCA

(short how-to)

  1. Open the Lightning Pay tab
  2. Select Auto-Buy
  3. Choose an amount and frequency
  4. Confirm

You can change or cancel your Auto-Buy at any time.

Selling bitcoin

Selling bitcoin is just as simple as buying.

You can sell:

  • A specific amount of bitcoin
  • Or a dollar amount

Funds are credited according to the settlement method shown in the app.

How to sell bitcoin

(short how-to)

  1. Open the Lightning Pay tab
  2. Select Sell
  3. Enter the amount
  4. Confirm the sale

Paying bills with bitcoin

Lightning Pay also lets you pay real-world bills using your balance.

You can:

  • Set up payees
  • Schedule or make one-off payments
  • Use bitcoin as part of your everyday financial life

This makes it easy to move between bitcoin and traditional payments without juggling multiple services.

How to pay a bill

(short how-to)

  1. Open the Lightning Pay tab
  2. Select Bill Pay
  3. Add a new payee (or choose an existing one)
  4. Enter the payment details and confirm

Designed to work together

All of these features are built to work together:

  • Buy regularly with DCA
  • Accumulate bitcoin efficiently
  • Spend when you need to
  • Move between bitcoin and everyday payments smoothly

You don’t need to manage UTXOs, channels, or fee strategies — Lightning Pay takes care of that so you can focus on using bitcoin.

Related articles

(ideal auto-linked block)

  • Saving in Bitcoin
  • Lightning Payments
  • On-chain Payments
  • Fees and Limits Explained