Nostr Web Client

I like to tell this story when I talk about the Nostr Plebs humble beginnings and how my eyes were opened with where Bitcoin is at when it comes to Lightning adoption.

The amount of Bitcoiners that message me asking how to pay the Lightning invoice to register their Nostr address, that they never used lightning before, that they had a Lightning node, but never opened up any channels, or that they had channels opened, but never made a transaction, or that they were unfamiliar with Lightning completely. I was shocked. How could Bitcoiners not know about or even use Lightning? 👀

Lightning has a bit of a marketing problem or maybe it has an adoption problem or a combination of both. 🤯

When it comes to managing your Lightning, node, liquidity management and channel management is hard. It's not fun. It's kind of a pain in the ass. I believe this will get better over time. It's already gotten better in the two and a half years that I've been running a Lightning node. 🤝

Custodial solutions are getting much easier as well. While many people may not be fans of custodial solutions, it's a misconception to believe that every person in the world will do this on their own. Do you maintain every single aspect of your house? Your car? Your electronics? No. Service providers exist for dozens of industries. Bitcoin will be no different. Stop custody shaming.

Is Lightning adoption where I wish it was at? Nope. However, we're working on it here. We're making Lightning fun and easy to use with zaps. We're making Lightning easy and frictionless.

I also truly believe that the Bitcoin communities around the world will push Lightning adoption. From Africa to Latin America to Southeast Asia, Lightning transactions are how they use Bitcoin. They don't use on-chain.

Keep building. Keep educating. It's a slow process, but we're on the right path.

Account deleted 2y ago

In my eyes, if management of a node is kind of hard it sorts of act as a proof of human work. I don’t fully understand the dance (especially what can be done by the operator to try to maintain balance on the channels, except rebalancing with onchain transactions) but I appreciate that there is work involved. Doesn’t feel like a PoS, leave, forget and “earn” scenario.

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Discussion

Derek Ross 2y ago

I don't mind the PoW aspects either, but if we want more self custody of Lightning sats then we need it to become easier, otherwise I don't want to hear any custody shaming going on.

Account deleted 2y ago

I’m really new to LN. I’m trying to understand if a scenario where I open channels with local LN payment specialists would be beneficial, to me as user and for the network.

Direct channels to shop allow for budgeting, on chain transaction would be like recharging a loyalty debit card. The flow is unidirectional.

With a payment specialist, would my incoming transactions (payments for my services) help balance the channel, provided the payment specialist does his job well and connects well locally and internationally?