GM
My Bitcoin bank XAPO made me lie to confirm I don't invest a lot in crypto and I had to lie and state it is an extremely risky investment.
However that aside, it then told me about UMA (Universal Money Address)
It's like a Lightning address mike@mikehardcastle.com but for USD.
Is the fiat world copying us?
What is this, is it just lightning, or is it something built on top of lightning?
UMA - That's what LightSpark came up with.
"The UMA standard combines human-readable Lightning Addresses with real-time, global payment rails. It extends the capabilities of Lightning and LNURL to add support for compliance and fiat currency FX."
To me, it reads like "KYC Lightning as a service". Lots of Travel Rule compliance speak. It seems like permissioned custodial networks for transferring any assets over lightning.
Yeah LightSpark is basically the Coinbase of Lightning
More concerning since they seem more competent than Coinbase. Raising the bar for the fiat world, but it's still absolutely fiat in the IOU sense.
It can very possibly become a one way street Hotel California for any Bitcoin you send there.
I predict nobody is going to remember Universal Money Address in 5 years. And you won't be able to find anyone who ever used it.
But if it gets in peoples consciousness that you@yourbank or you@yourdomain can be a payment address, that can only help Lightning in general, right?
Maybe? I dunno. I don't really see the value in this UMA because Zelle is already integrated with everyone's bank, and it only requires a phone number or email address to send money. And if you're sending money to family and friends, you already have their phone number and/or email address. So, what problem does this UMA address? I don't see it.
