In November, I realized some Core BTC devs don't understand the LN. Other influencers agreed with me, some in private, some publicly. These questions arose from that confusion, in an attempt to clear things up once and for all.
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If Alice and Bob want to transact, they need to open a channel, and they need to agree on max amount to transfer through that channel. This requires a transaction. To finalize the transaction so they can spend the BTC outside of their channel, they need to close it so their on-chain balance updates and so they can send BTC onward into other channels. Closing also needs a tx. How, then, is it sensible for Alice and Bob to transact this way, instead of what they can do now - use one single transaction?
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A common argument against the above is "you'll have middlemen through which many channels will go and form a mesh". My question is twofold:
- a) how is it that this does not scare you? If LN becomes super popular and
