Re: Is the Lightning Network centralized?

Don't forget that the Lightning Network could be also used for cross-chain atomic swaps.

If you ease hurdles and open up such bridges Bitcoins built in scarcity is at risk.

Is it, though? The ability to conveniently hop to other blockchains doesn't create additional supply. It's creating extra utility, not more coins. It wouldn't make litecoins equal to bitcoins, it simply removes some potential middlemen between the two. They're still different coins, so there will be no impact on scarcity.

I think hv_ still is dreaming of a monopoly game with Bitcoin (=Cash?) as the one and only cryptocurrency - and then, somewhen later, as the only currency of the world, making early adopters extremely rich (even I with my tiny BTC holdings would be rich in this case Grin

, and Satoshi would be richer than the 100 top billionaires of today.)

In this case, his argumentation makes some sense. But without an authoritarian regime of some kind (even if it's an authoritarian developer group which uses his power "softly", e.g. bribing merchants to not accept other coins than Bitcoin) this won't happen.

First, because there will always be an incentive to create other cryptocurrencies. Second, atomic swaps are already happening, they're open source. You can't forbid them (the only way would be, ironically, to make the block size smaller to achieve extremely high fees, which would lower the incentives even for LN-powered swaps).

But I think also, hv_, that your fear is unfounded. The strength of a cryptocurrency lies in its ecosystem, and as DoomAD already said, in its utility. So scarcity won't go away, because only a limited number of cryptocurrencies can really see mass adoption. I don't see Bitcoin not being part of this group.

the funny thing about bitcoin cash and its followers is that they talk shit about bitcoin while doing whatever bitcoin does, either now or in the near future. and i mean it literary everything including SegWit, LN and everything else. the only thing they changed was block size. they may not have all of these now but they will add them with a different name eventually. for example Bech32 addresses are already implemented for BCH, there are talks about second layer with a different name than LN!
Atomic Swaps have also happened already on BCH network. in fact it happened last year in November!