Lightning network doesn't work.

- It forces everyone who wants to receive money to constantly run a node at all times. If their node goes down at any time (or is intentionally taken down by a hacker), in certain situations, they could lose money.

- The channel provider needs to lock up a massive amount of BTC to provide liquidity to channels for all users. It costs BTC to open the channels.

- It's brittle because you need many watchtower nodes to constantly monitor every single participant in real time in order to ensure that nobody cheats and rolls back valid transactions.

- Watchtowers could be fooled by attackers to spend all their processing time on fake frauds to distract them from real frauds.

And there are a lot more serious vulnerabilities outlined here: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-lightning-network-vulnerabi...

I think for high volume payment processing, we might as well use centralized payment providers off-chain.

Lol, you are not serious, are you? Oh, I get the sarcasm now. "Lightning Network" is only "6 months away", right? Wink wink!

there are a number of lightning wallets and a number of stores where you can pay using lightning transactions

I have money stuck in limbo right now because of a failed LN transaction. Waiting to contact wallet developers. It still doesn't work

> I have money stuck in limbo right now because of a failed LN transaction.

The sats will return to you in 2 weeks.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/.amp/technical/understanding-the...

6 months away, what? I use it on a regular basis. Before covid I could even buy beer & burgers in my city. You can get coupons for everything, many online stores accept it.

> You can get coupons for everything, many online stores accept it.

Such as...?

“ Bitrefill provides products and services that allow anyone to live on cryptocurrency more easily. Bitrefill.com provides a catalog of gift cards, prepaid mobile refills, and Lightning networking services that can be purchased using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies worldwide. By using Bitcoin and Lightning Network technology we provide a safe and private user experience with fast digital delivery to anywhere in the world. ”

https://www.bitrefill.com/faq/?hl=en#what-is-bitrefill

All phones in most countries, amazon, steam, microsoft acount, spotify etc etc.

What's the upside to this then? I mean, over a bank transfer or handing over cash?