Reasons to spend bitcoin (incl. Lightning):
1/ It's more secure and private than filling out a form with personal information (e.g. credit card payment on some websites) or 1a/ handing over *credentials* to a waiter, or a POS machine that you don't trust. 1b/ The UI is therefore better (it's smoother)
2/ It's cheaper *maybe* for you, but specifically for the merchant, than credit cards
3/ It (quasi)-settles immediately in LN case and in 10 min on chain; card payments often take 60 days
4/ It has cash like properties but you can pay remotely and immediately
5/ It cannot be blocked by a payments provider
6/ There is no (realistic) limit how small or large the payment can be
7/ Every transaction, especially the more p2p ones, e.g. between friends, but also to companies, adds and improves bitcoin's privacy overall - consider that if we did nothing but move bitcoin to and from KYC exchanges, there would be zero privacy, independent of advanced cryptography. More business or personal transactions without KYC, the less information is in the onchain tracing.
8/ There is no global systemic downtime when some backend fails (this one is more debatable)
9/ Actually using bitcoin is how you learn its mechanics and will give you necessary expertise to not lose it, even if your primary goal is only saving.
10/ Using bitcoin makes it a better money, as you are participating in the process which makes it a viable form of money for others.
#spedn
1/ It's more secure and private than filling out a form with personal information (e.g. credit card payment on some websites) or 1a/ handing over *credentials* to a waiter, or a POS machine that you don't trust. 1b/ The UI is therefore better (it's smoother)
2/ It's cheaper *maybe* for you, but specifically for the merchant, than credit cards
3/ It (quasi)-settles immediately in LN case and in 10 min on chain; card payments often take 60 days
4/ It has cash like properties but you can pay remotely and immediately
5/ It cannot be blocked by a payments provider
6/ There is no (realistic) limit how small or large the payment can be
7/ Every transaction, especially the more p2p ones, e.g. between friends, but also to companies, adds and improves bitcoin's privacy overall - consider that if we did nothing but move bitcoin to and from KYC exchanges, there would be zero privacy, independent of advanced cryptography. More business or personal transactions without KYC, the less information is in the onchain tracing.
8/ There is no global systemic downtime when some backend fails (this one is more debatable)
9/ Actually using bitcoin is how you learn its mechanics and will give you necessary expertise to not lose it, even if your primary goal is only saving.
10/ Using bitcoin makes it a better money, as you are participating in the process which makes it a viable form of money for others.
#spedn
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