I've been on nostr for about a week.

In that time I've observed an argument between two camps.

LN vs Monero.

I've observed some issues with this argument that will result in it never being resolved. For LN advocates, take note.

Follow me ⤵️

1. LN advocates saying "find my transaction". This is problematic because this is something a nation state or WoS COULD do... But not me. So stop asking. We get that LN is a network. Also what about receiver privacy? Which is distinct from senders. Is everyone (and every LN flavor) using trampoline, MPP, blinded routes, taproot etc.? See argument number 3.

2. LN advocates talking about Bitcoin being a better store of value than monero. Sure. Okay. But I'm not convinced this is compelling. First of all, most people on nostr actually use bitcoin as a SoV already, so it's a moot point. Plus, the LN vs monero argument is about payments anyway. Eg the BEST way to make LN is custodially anyway, and most people say, "don't worry, I only have a small amount with custodians, for use as a proxy for receiving or to spend more easily." Okay, well many people use monero similarly, only holding enough for some payments for the next month or so. But at least with monero one has the benefit of not relying on a custodian.a

3. It's actually impossible to argue with someone about LN because of how many ways it can be run. Fully custodially or super hardcore mode. And each one has problems. But this makes it effectively impossible to argue against because the goal posts can just keep shifting. I call this the infinite edge case problem.

4. LN advocates need to think about why DNMs have no desire to receive LN payments. If LN gets good enough from a UX and DEFAULT privacy perspective, it might see more adoption by privacy advocates.

As if a DNM wants to manage the help tickets that would flood in from the barrage of people complaining about failed payments.

5. Anecdotally, I remember during the high fee environment I got really into the idea of only using LN.

So I set up Blixt and got tons of inbound liquidity (which cost me over 200,000 sats), only to have constant issues with RoboSats and payment failures. It's NOT a panacea when one tries to do it self sovereignly.

And IF ASINQ or WoS or LNbig are always one hop away we need to really ask ourselves if we have the privacy we think we do. Or are we trusting these super nodes to be benevolent.