this is exactly the same a saying that only the rich people deserve protection from fractional reserve banking. it turns bitcoin into an actual shitcoin. but honestly at this point I think you're just not gonna get it until you actually see people getting rugged. you are signaling that you're the type of person who only learns the hard way. 

 ? 

 imagine it's the year 2017. I invent an altcoin that doesn't scale without custodians. by its design, if too many people try to use it without a custodian the fees shoot up and most people can't afford to interact with it. the custodians issue IOUs against these coins and it is totally impossible to verify that the number of IOUs doesn't exceed the number of circulating coins. you would call it a shitcoin, and you would be correct. but now it's 2024, they did the same exact thing with bitcoin, and all you see is the little yellow B with the two lines through it and you think everything is fine. you're being scammed. 

 and what’s not a scam, in your opinion? 

 let's start here. any cryptocurrency payment network that can't  scale without help from custodians belongs in the trash bin. it's the custodians who are the problem. their presence erases all of the benefits that bitcoin is supposed to provide. ruggable sats is a retarded idea. if it takes you longer than 3 minutes to figure this out on your own you have brain damage. 

 i do have brain damage 

 Using a custodial solution for absolutely anything is absolutely 100% never ever ever okay. Promoting custodial solutions is about the same amount of dangerous as promoting Philip Morris cigarettes to children. Why do you want to kill children? 

 Forget about idealistic radicals, custodial lightning is a real sub-optimal solution and will be for the near future for many people. Nice!