Base layer payments are self-custody. You alone have the private key. It uses my whisper addresses protocol to automatically derive infinite bitcoin keys from a single nostr private key, that way every time you receive a payment, it shows up in a different bitcoin address, but you can still recover it all.

Lightning payments are custodial by default. It automatically sets you up with a custodial lnbits account when you first load the page, which lowers the barrier to entry for people to get started. Also, I don't run the lnbits instance (Ben Arc's company does), so I am not responsible for having custody of anyone's funds.

I plan to make it easy to point it at your own node, but I need to write some software for that. Still, there is a way to do it right now if you're okay with a but of coding in the browser.

Here are instructions to point it at your own node:

If you do all that, all the sats you earn on lightning will flow to your own node. (But be aware! If your lnbits instance is hosted as a hidden onion service, as most of them are, people won't be able to send you funds on lightning unless they happen to be using a tor compatible web browser.)