I spent 2019 trying a variety of products and services to test how easy it is to actually use cryptocurrency. I ran a Casa bitcoin-lightning node, used decentralized exchanges (DEXs), moved bitcoin from mobile apps to a hardware wallet (a Ledger) then transacted straight from the hardware wallet.
Beyond just running the node, I used the Casa device to send invoices for a small product (a poetry book) to learn more about the challenges independent merchants might face. Lastly, I set up a BTCPay store, which is the stage of this experiment I’ll end the year on.
And after a year of educational tinkering what is my takeaway?
It’s this: There’s no way this technology is ready for prime time.
It's worth reading the entire article because they go into a lot of detail of exactly what goes wrong.
IMO there is too much cheerleading in the bitcoin space, and not enough attention to sorting out the issues needed to make bitcoin succeed.
Even I have never touched Lightning Network, i have ran a full node at most (back when my adsl actually worked). Frankly these subjects are advanced. I expect that "journalist" to at least have an active account here and asking questions. LN is not even in a finalized state...
Saying "no way this technology is ready" what does exactly mean? Bitcoin is ready, LN is not. Setting up your own payment processor, is not a subject most bitcoin users will ever face, some merchants might, and even them can hire people to have it set up for them. Its like saying computer programming is not ready because its hard...
Setting up a BTCpay store is a great project, but its NOT for newbies. But guess what, that is completely unrelated to Bitcoin.
DEX are also complex beasts. Again not for newbies, it is not "basic". I myself have a hard time making bisq run, because of its embedded tor which "should" work in most other countries without censorship. And those exchanges have a very low volume anyway.
Most things this person seem to be focused on, are related to exchanging. If you are a merchant and directly price things in bitcoin and receive
BTC directly, you don't even need a payment processor. Maybe some accounting software, and again that's beyond Bitcoin.
Is a hardware wallet hard to use? Guess what, that is also NOT Bitcoin's issue. You do not need one, ever. They are a convenience, but its an OPTIONAL convenience. A paper with 12 written words make the best "unhackable" cold wallet, no gadgets required. The hardware wallet becomes handy if you want to spend small amounts of money and don't want to use your insecure windows or android device. They should not be used for storing large quantities, leave that for the cold piece of paper...
This is no "cheerleading", its facts. Bitcoin is ready to use, LN might not. So? To use bitcoin install a light wallet like Electrum and transfer, done. If you want to receive payments, give them one of your wallet addresses. How is this not ready? Mind you, normal people don't run nodes, in fact most people never will.
Is this an issue with the CASA device? Then point it in the title, don't blame Bitcoin if Casa doesn't do what you expected, direct that to the developers of it. Perhaps this is yet again coindesk just wishing more traffic to their site...