Thank you for phrasing the question as "least bad".

Drivechain and Mercury Layer (statechains)(hopefully with some APO magic that allows statecoins to live forever).

But we still need something for micropayments that can be more trusted. Maybe if these custodial ecash mints could settle among them without using Lightning. Or maybe just using Lightning in a low-fee drivechain will work even though it's ugly and dirty.