ecash is actually stupid easy. buy bitcoin on kraken or coinbase, go to a cashu web wallet, plug the minibits URL into it, and withdraw your kraken money to it via LN. the problem is that ecash takes a massive shortcut by throwing the entire concept of sovereignty on the floor and stomping all over it, then it takes a giant dump all over the trampled remains. then you wind up with fractional reserve banking. ecash is for people who think that doesn't matter.
i think we're generally in agreement, but onboarding to Lightning (seriously shouldn't have to onboard to use money) in this way hides a lot of the complexity that i think people need to engage in more critically.
that's what i was trying to argue, not just the problems with ecash, but the problems with all the steps. IMO any benefits of ecash are not worth the baggage of the other steps.
buy bitcoin on an exchange, as a means to somewhere down the line have private custodial paper claims on unsettled bitcoin? that's insane.
for ecash enthusiasts, fractional reserve banking can be handwaved away and the way that bitcoin really works doesn't matter as long as it looks like it works. it's not for you, it's for wringing more market cap out of people with room temperature IQs.
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