Who said self-custodial Lightning is not viable?

Viable for what purpose in particular?

“The only hope” is a bit of a general/sweeping statement, which I tend to try and avoid. (I still make such statements, of course).

But in general, at least right now — assuming we’re referring to the goal of Bitcoin sovereignty for a global population (which I think is usually the underlying question here) — I’m of the mind that we don’t have the “solution” yet, if there is to be one primary, all-encompassing solution, which also may not be the case.

But Lightning, ARK, eCash, sidechains - it’s all pretty cool and interesting and new and cutting edge. Perhaps none of them are “the” solution. If there is *one* solution, it probably hasn’t been invented yet!

And just like the way that Bitcoin was discovered/created after decades of experimentation with other projects that solved different parts of the problem, I would expect that bringing self-custody sats to the masses will require the synthesis of various projects into something that checks all the boxes.

Also worth noting: Bitcoin successfully dis-intermediates central banks, and offers global citizens a currency with a monetary policy that can’t be fucked with by those banks or governments.

That is a HUGE gift to humanity.

If (and when) an era of digital free banking, using eCash or Lightning or something new, is then built on top of a Bitcoin standard, it will be a massive improvement to the lives of all people. The “best” banks can publish verifiable proof-of-reserve. Or they can offer a transparent, fuckery-free fractional reserve model to those clients who wish to take on a bit more risk, in exchange for some interest (rewards), while other citizens will choose a simple and transparent custody model where they pay a small amount of fees (instead of being paid interest) to have a responsible third party protect their wealth. Humans - many humans - want this, and always will. The market will deliver it.

And for those of us who *don’t* want to rely on any third party for this service? Well, now, we finally have the tools and the means to do it the way we want to.

Freedom = (choice x privacy x autonomy) + confidence that the other factors will not be encroached upon

Or something like that.

You got me thinking 😁🫂🤝🤙🫡