We need to earn on DEXes-that's the real way forward.
The "best" DEXes are on non-bitcoin chains / networks. You know it. I know it. But would you actually turn your BTC corns into something else? The "safest" is to just be a liquidity provider for the stable coins so you don't get any impermanent losses, since both of them will be almost at the same value for as long as you leave it there.
I mean, 1 USDT = 1 USDC = 1 DAI (or other dollar stablecoin) or very close to it.
I really do not see how it is possible to make money on staking and DeFi with gas being $50-100 for a transaction. The only way anyone will use a DEX is if they're trading millions.
I think atomic swaps, bisq and Lightning make more sense for a DEX. Lightning colored coins looked like a great solution for the ability to issue "tokens". Admittedly, my hope for Bitcoin as an every day currency is hampered by the high transaction fees. But LN creates the possibility. I also understand how difficult LN is as well.
Most people don't like them but I like Blockstream's Liquid solution for all of this. For the simple fact that they are practicing advanced Bitcoin features on their sidechain which includes Bitcoin native smart transactions.
For much of what we all talk about, the poor stock market, the poor system of governance in place right now, we need to have effective alternatives in place before we do any work to bring it all down. Otherwise an even worse solution will get implemented.
I had not even read your whole post before I was composing a "what about Liquid" response (human nature...)
But I honestly believe Adam Back and friends really really have set up a sleeper layer two solution that will most likely seem to come out of nowhere later this year or next.
Here's the beauty:
Cashapp, Bakkt, Paypal and friends? Custodian 100% trusted layer 2. Super smooth transactions... super vulnerable model.
Lightning? Trust minimized, smart contract based layer 2. Fast, Hard to use, doesn't always work (yet) not great for ginormous tx.
Liquid? Federated trust model. So, somewhere between the other two. Distributed. Hard to shut down. Multi jurisdictional. FAST, cheap... Much wow. Already working with tokens (USDT for example. I have a couple in my green wallet!)
All three have tradeoffs. Liquid might be closest to the sweet spot.
Future? Atomic swaps, bisq improvements, lightning improvements.. etc...
But does anyone else see the Liquid tradeoffs as kinda really good?