it's the difference between permission and permissionless
intranet and internet
Layer 2 have tradeoffs
you have to trust Blockstream LLC with Liquid and you have to trust Blackrock to use Ibit
Discussion
ETF is just a contract which is not really a layer 2. You can just send and recieve IBIT to and IBIT address like you can with liquid and lightning I wouldn’t call an ETF a layer 2 personally.
Can’t*
I trust Blockstream way more than BlackRock. Your trust assumption is also not true. You would have to believe that the majority of the federation would agree to rug you.
tradeoffs required trust to 3rd party
2 layer and above is the corporate layer
base layer is the open layer available to everyone
all those logos are corps with a TOS
Liquid is a representation of bitcoin
Users are bound by a Corporate TOS and they can change anytime without notice
Just like Blackrock ETF
That part is similar I agree but with lightning and liquid you can actually transact off chain then settle on chain you can’t do that with an ETF. It is closer to holding bitcoin on an exchange than it is to lightning or liquid.
I wouldn’t call Coinbase or Kraken or MSTR a layer 2 either.
in order to change liquid into lightning, you have to use a service called Boltz a Corporate Entity
a trusted 3rd party with a TOS
Yea but a trusted third party is not a layer 2. I’m not arguing that part I am arguing that you can’t transact with an ETF. If I could send IBIT to a wallet I self custody or transfer it to and from anyone with an IBIT address, then I’d agree but you cannot. It is just a custody solution not a layer 2.