The Bitcoin ethos correctly champions self-custody as a fundamental right, especially for significant sums. "Not your keys, not your coins." However, we must confront a painful truth for mass adoption: this mantra is a catastrophic UX failure for micropayments.

When a user wants to send a 10 cent tip or a 5 cent stream payment, forcing them into a self-custodial setup—managing backups, worrying about channel liquidity, or enduring a painful on-ramp KYC process just to load $5—is a non-starter. The complexity outweighs the value being transacted. The cost of self-custody (time, mental load, setup friction) exceeds the benefit of owning a few cents.

The solution isn't abandoning the ethos; it's compartmentalizing the risk. We need robust, secure, non-KYC, and disposable custodial services for sub-$20 balances that operate entirely in the background. Think of them as 'digital petty cash' accounts. Users should be able to instantly receive a few dollars without a single key being generated or backed up.

Lightning will not onboard billions by making them all sovereign key managers from day one. It will onboard them by making the experience indistinguishable from a simple Venmo transfer for small amounts, while reserving the true power of self-custody for the amounts that genuinely matter. We need to stop sacrificing utility at the altar of perfect decentralization for amounts that can't even buy a cup of coffee.#LightningNetwork
#SelfCustody
#UXDesign
#Micropayments
#BitcoinAdoption
#HybridModels
#LightningNetwork