1) is not a problem because you can chose a custodial wallet and not deal with anything - just as any bank account is also a custodial wallet. And when you pay

1) is not a problem because you can chose a custodial wallet and not deal with anything - just as any bank account is also a custodial wallet. And when you pay anything online with credit card, it sure as hell is also not private or non-custodial. 2) it is at least as private as cash. If you withdraw cash from an ATM, the serial numbers are linked to your account. But you can simply spend that cash and obtain it from people you know and transact with, in which case it is private. So yes, if you acquire lightning from an exchange, it is not private. But those lightning transfers you receive outside from an exchance, are untraceable and private. And where you send/spend them too is always private and untraceable. I am not opening libertierian and freedom-of-money discussions, it is all about being able to facilitate micropayments over the internet. In contrast to traditional banking and credit cards, lightning serves that purpose quite well because it is decentralized because it is based on bitcoin.