ecash has its uses and tradeoffs and i don't think anyone is being disingenuous about those on nostr (I don't use X). it's well-understood and publicised that it's custodial and requires trusting the issuer. i think the apps and libraries that integrate it do it because they see utility in it and/or their users demand it, that's my experience at least.
Discussion
Fair. I don't want to bash people who are genuinely trying to build something or lump everyone into the same boat. There’s some legitimate innovation happening in the ecash space, some interesting protocols blooming, and even some actual progress in the Lightning ecosystem. Nostr is pushing a lot of innovation forward in this space.
That said, I’ll still call out the scammy Lightning/NWC service sales tactics:
“Hey, new user, you need to self-custody or you don’t own your BTC. Install this free wallet, that I won’t disclose that that I’m financially associated with it! OK, now that you’ve installed my wallet and received your first welcome sats which the company behind th3 wallet is happy to custody for you (wait, wasn’t this meant to be self-custodial?), you can either try to self-host my Lightning software wrapper that mostly don't work or pay me $9.90/month and I’ll do it for you. Then you can have access to your sats.
OK, paid the $9.90? Now let me tell you about Lightning channels and liquidity. So here, deposit another 10k sats and I’ll manage this for you. Then you can access your 200 or so welcome SATs.”
This is beyond shady. It should be called out, and I don’t care if a lot of folks on Nostr like the companies behind this.