It is funny to watch Tether try to graft themselves onto the Lightning Network.
From their perspective it makes sense: Lightning is the most efficient, lowest-cost settlement rail in existence, and Bitcoin has already done the hard work of building it out.
If they can use Lightning to move their IOUs around, they can piggyback on the credibility of Bitcoin while preserving their own centralized power.
But the whole thing misses the deeper point.
Lightning is not just a network of payment channels; it is a network of conviction.
Bitcoiners run routing nodes not because they expect to get rich on tiny transaction fees, but because they believe in the mission.
So they don’t run their nodes with an economically viable model, most of them will be operating at a loss.
Every sat they forward means that they are expanding the reach of sound money.
That sense of participation, that alignment with a cause larger than themselves, is what makes the infrastructure resilient.
Try substituting a dollar proxy for that mission, and the ethos evaporates.
No Bitcoiner wakes up eager to donate liquidity and bandwidth to make Tether stronger.
Anyone operating a node that carries Tether will demand higher fees.
The difference is structural: Bitcoin routing is subsidized by belief, while token routing will always be mercenary.
This is why stablecoins will never truly compete with sats on Lightning.
They may succeed at moving volume for a time, but they will never summon a volunteer army.
Bitcoin nodes are happy to give because they are defending the hardest money the world has ever seen.
Token nodes will only give if they are paid, and they will want paying well.
That asymmetry ensures that Lightning will always be cheaper, more reliable, and more resilient for Bitcoin than for any imitation that tries to ride its rails.
The same thing has been seen with peer to peer network of Bitcoin to cash transfers.
Bitcoiners are happy to trade at spot, while anyone facilitating USDT trades are asking for a fee to complete a deal.
