This. Yes.

Getting more and more the feeling that LN was a bit of a time waster, and that creating virtual representation of BTC utxo («Token». eg cashu, statecoin etc) & and passing them around off chain is this actual solution for the internet payment use case. Not as decentralized, not as trust minimized, not as technically fancy as LN - but simple, reliable, and absolutely superior UX

Payment channels would have evolved naturally anyway, as a way for mints to settle amongst them. But it's not sth for regular user wallets.