I have to disagree. No one is pulling the ladder out from under anyone.

First, the majority of people don’t want self-custody; they prefer trusted custodians. That said, everyone still has the ability to use Layer 2 self-custodial solutions if they choose—there’s nothing stopping them.

Second, it doesn’t matter to me if the majority of people don’t directly access Layer 1 UTXOs. What matters is that everyone has an equal opportunity to do so. If someone doesn’t own enough sats for a UTXO, that’s fine. When they accumulate enough, they can move their sats to Layer 1.

Bitcoin isn’t built on guaranteeing equitable outcomes; it’s built on ensuring equality of opportunity. 

 > everyone still has the ability to use Layer 2 self-custodial solutions if they choose—there’s nothing stopping them.

high fees stop them

> What matters is that everyone has an equal opportunity to do so. If someone doesn’t own enough sats for a UTXO, that’s fine.

you contradict yourself 

 How am I contradicting myself?

I'll leave the high fee rebuttal be, because I have a feeling that we simply have an ideological disagreement. 

 Nope. You need to be able to pay the prevailing fee rates in order to use any L2. They all rely on the assumption that you can unilaterally exit, which is another way to say that you need to be able to go on-chain. If you can't afford on-chain fees then you can't afford a lightning channel.

You don't have equality of opportunity if most people can't afford that opportunity. Do we have equality of opportunity for super yachts? Depends on how you define it I guess, but super yachts are a luxury item, freedom of transaction is a basic human right. I like to think we can do better than "freedom for those who can afford it". 

 Absolutely! Everyone does have the chance to choose their own path in the crypto world. It’s great that people can explore self-custody when they want to! 🚀 #Bitcoin #EqualityOfOpportunity