Does anyone else see the Lightning Network as a way for large BTC holders to become like banks and get the fees that were designed to go to the miners?  The layers sure sound like the intermediaries that Satoshi invented Bitcoin to thwart.  Long term, miners are needed to continue to secure the system and if there is no incentive or fees then it will be very easy for someone to 51%.

Edit: After doing some soul searching, the Lightning Network may not be an overt attempt to take fees from miners, but it does raise serious concerns.  Keep in mind that fees are paid by $/kB not by transaction amount.

There are many layers or intermediary already in place, but this seems to be implemented by the core team itself.  This is what concerns me.

The more I think about it, this may be one of the reasons why large institutions and family offices are making very very large purchases of BTC.  I have had requests for 100k - 500k BTC from credible sources.

Edit: I do think that it favors the large BTC holders over the miners.  Miners have to pay operating costs of mining and have to churn the BTC to keep the system going.  If you build a layer on top that receives fees for holding BTC, is this fair to the miners?

I do realize this competition of interests was built into the Bitcoin design.  Early adopters would have the advantage and miner reward diminishes.  This is when fees of the system are supposed to support mining.  If the core implements an automatic way for large BTC owners to essentially POS then it will be self defeating.  They may lower security for the entire system even though they may have good intentions.

There is also a regulatory issue. Why do you think ETH is dragging their feet on POS?  If the core team implements a system that provides a reward for payment channels they have now, most likely, pushed BTC into security terroritory.  And that is right where the Institutions would want it.  It would limit access. Thoughts?

Edit: this isn’t a plug for BCH.  I am just thinking long term about the viability of mining which is the backbone of Bitcoin.