Quote from: dinofelis on March 31, 2017, 08:27:00 AM

Quote from: stdset on March 31, 2017, 08:16:20 AM

Quote from: Quickseller on March 31, 2017, 07:16:19 AM

1 - if I have a LN channel open with the dealership, and the dealership does not offer intermediary services, then the only use of that LN channel is to transact with that dealership. If the dealership is connected to a LN hub that I am not connected to, then I cannot transaction with that LN hub without the cooperation of the dealership, or I would need to route payments via other means to that LN hub via other cooperating LN channels.

That's why I suggest opening a channel not with the dealership, but with a hub, in this case.

This is why LN is banking. A few big hubs are the banks. Everyone will want to connect to them, and they set their conditions.

Except one crucial difference.

Not just anyone can open a bank, there are very significant real-world political obstacles to get past, very few genuinely new banks open as a result.

Lightning can behave like banking, but because people have the freedom to open their own banks (really more like a mixture of a bank and a VISA/Amex type payment processor), they will do that.

Some people will try, and fail. Regular everyday people paying each other small amounts through channels might decide the price is too high. Or, they might decide that price is worth it, for the enhanced privacy of doing business in a private channel.

But even small businesses will be able to compete on costs with channels. Maybe an ecosystem of small payment processors might arise, servicing a small geographical area (for instance, a landowner leasing shop units would do well to make using their channel a part of the contract for all the shop leases they offer).

Or maybe the economics will be such that very small shops can afford to run their own channel. If a small shop has goods of sufficient quality, the clientele may prefer to pay the higher channel fees in order to get the high quality product that our small shop sells.

So no, dino, it's not "just like banking". It resembles it in some ways, but in fact it resembles Hayek's "free banking concept " most of all. Now do be quiet, people are interested in having a productive conversation about Lightning.