no you cant pay any bitcoiner.. you can only pay other users of LN, paying their LN channel.
i don't want to pay other LN users. i want to hold my own bitcoin in my own wallet franky!
LN is not the bitcoin network, dont be fooled into thinking it is
much like other networks that peg/wrap/bridge.. they are not actually bitcoins they are IOU..
remember bitcoin never leaves the bitcoin network. so all other networks making bitcoin claims are not the same thing as the actual bitcoin network
i was thinking i would be able to buy bitcoin on coinbase and then send it to my own address that I control and do it for under 1 cent. if not then this story is way over hyped. in my opinion.
also when you have BALANCE on coinbase its not "your bitcoin" you just has a coinbase BALANCE which suggests they owe you bitcoin which your suppose to withdraw.. (previously and preferably to the bitcoin network so you can actually own your bitcoin)
yeah exactly i want to withdraw my coinbase bitcoin to an actual wallet that i control. a bitcoin address. and i should be able to do that now for less than 1 cent. because that's what Brian Armstrong said, "let's get every transaction under 1 second and 1 cent" i assumed he was talking about normal bitcoin transactions. I'm sure LN transactions are ALREADY under 1 cent and 1 second so that wouldn't be any new development...
however
now with LN attached to coinbase, they assume that their BALANCE then moves to another network where THEY HAVE THE KEYS* and give you another form of unsettled IOU amount which again is NOT bitcoin settled to your key..
by staying in LN using their channel renting and balance giving. they hold onto the coin and your playing with IOU credit. which they hope and know due to the liquidity issues people only play with small amounts and know the bitcoin fee to confirm funds out to your bitcoin address is higher, means you are less likely to ever want to actually settle to the bitcoin network thus they keep the actual bitcoin and just wait for you to spend your balance to zero so they can then close out the channel when you get to zero so they never have to pay out
well thanks for clarifying all of this but it's not really what i wanted to hear...
But you can't use this LN in New York and other states that have restrictions...
i don't know why that would be the case. i know they did some type of settlement with new york but people in new york can still sign up with coinbase they just can't stake. but why they wouldn't be able to use LN that doesn't really make any sense. if you can buy bitcoin using CB you can probably use LN too.
This is good example of fake decentralization and I wouldn't be surprised if Coinbase loses case against SEC, and if they ban all Lightning Network in US soon, just because they can
that's not going to happen. coinbase is a publicly traded company now and they have become legitimized in the eyes of the public. through just being on the stock exchange.