Blue Wallet doesn't seem interested to do it anymore.
My only guess is it wasn't profitable.
Well "not profitable" in a strict sense might be part of the considerations, yet then think about the various bullshit angles in which there could be liability including overreaching governments fucking around with you because you are actually touching the funds of someone else.. even if you might be the most responsible in the world. .but they aren't the governments going to want to require you to jump through hoops.. starting with KYC/AML.. and maybe even other reporting hoops? sure, that's a cost that goes beyond finances, I would think.. there comes uncertainties.... and yeah it's a similar concept to profitability but potentially getting screwed with because you are holding funds (even if such holding might be structured in a way that it is temporary) seems problematic beyond the more strict conceptual category of "profitability."
I am not sure anyone else will take their place, especially since you can host your own nodes using the same service.
I never tried, I always thought it's a lot of work. But it would for sure require opening my own channels, which is what I try to avoid (for small amounts).
Personally, I am not even running a bitcoin node.. so I would think that personally, I would have to run a bitcoin node before getting into the category of a lightning network node.... Maybe there are people who skip running a bitcoin node or they learn both at once? I don't even know enough to speculate whether you have to run a bitcoin node in order to run a lightning node.. but anyhow, in my own head, I think that running a bitcoin node comes prior to running (or attempting to run) a lightning node, even though there may be some folks who add both to their bitcoin interaction practices at the same time..
If I needed a simple way to send small amounts of LN coins on a regular basis, I wouldn't mind using a custodial service for that.
That's why Phoenix Wallet is my favourite alternative: it's custodial while opening the channel, but after that it's all yours. They charge a 1% fee though while opening, with a 3000 sat minimum.
I am glad to know that.. and I am currently weighing LN wallets that work on IOS mobile... so it seems that I am comparing Muun, Breez and Phoenix.. as the main potential competitors in that category of LN wallet.. .. and thanks to Cygan for providing the additional chart to describe some of differences... even though I likely need to consider the matter more. and maybe this could be an opportunity for me to try all three of them.. but I feel that I usually don't have that much time that I can (or want to) spend on studying wallet comparisons... or those similar topics of setting up and then making sure that I sufficiently understand the differences, including making sure that I am not doing too many "unknown things" at once.
Worst case scenario, I lose my $1.70 in BTC. Congratulations you criminal mastermind. You really messed me up by robbing me of my wealth.
I don't mind this either. People are often in favour of self custody, but we're talking about crummies here. Meanwhile, milllions of people keep their Bitcoin on exchanges, trust them for years, and once in a while they lose everything.
I've come around to this view too.. in terms of considering Lightning network to be in a different category from how I consider mainchain funds.. in terms of how much might be held there at any one time (and maybe comparable to some funds that I might hold on some other "custodial" wallet.. even though yeah, LN wallet seems to be better than some other kinds of custodial funds (like some of the exchanges that might have quasi-hotwallets).. and then maybe questions about the convenience of something like cashapp.. but then the realization that there's KYC there.. or otherways that funds could end up getting frozen... Currently, I am holding too much on BlueWallet's lightning wallet (more than $1.70.. and even more than I would generally carry around with me in my physical wallet.. absent some urgent time-based transactional matter).. and so I am likely going to ween the amount that I have in the LN wallet down (Blue wallet might have forced this weening down due to their cutting of that service).. and I realize I am holding too much there for a few months now.. .
