There is a difference between a cash system and a payment network.
Bitcoin is a system to maintain a reliable currency.
It completes with gold, USD, lira etc..
It is not the same as a payment network, like visa and Mastercard.
Lightning is a payment network.
Bitcoin is both, and that's what make it so powerful.
But if you use bitcoin to payment network you need wait 10 min to confirm your transaction
Comparing Bitcoin to VISA is dumb. It's more closely aligned to a permissionless SWIFT network. Lightning is closer to VISA but we're still figuring out how to scale it in a decentralised & permissionless way.
Bitcoin redefines so many terms that fiat introduced.
Fundamentally bitcoin is money AND currency, which we've not had since going to paper IOUs.
Bitcoin is a payments network as is Lightning. Both use & transfer bitcoin & both have tradeoffs. Buying bitcoin is like buying shares in VISA, Mastercard, Amex & Diners in the 90s while also having shares in & access to, the backend settlement layers.
