Hey @k00b and SN - author of the tweet thread here - thanks so much for responding and having this conversation! I am a regular reader of Stacker News on my morning/evening commute and love the conversations that happen here.

I want to clarify that use of bitcoin by itself is a compelling reason for me to use Stacker News, even if a SN clone could be mostly built on traditional payment rails. This is because I believe in the economics and technological principles of bitcoin, and am attracted to products that integrate bitcoin.

Many of my friends and family are no-coiners who haven't taken the time to understand bitcoin, and they wouldn't adopt bitcoin right now solely based on alignment with the principles of decentralization and clear issuance policies. I think that one way that we will onboard the next wave of bitcoiners is by creating digital services that can only exist on bitcoin.

I've seen a lot of excitement over the recent wave of products and businesses being built on lightning, and I've been excited by many of them myself. I was trying to figure out which of them have developed products that couldn't be quickly copied by entrenched tech companies and none of them seemed to have a major moat that I could see.

If and when SN is non-custodial, it would be a true step forward and offer something unique relative to the legacy payment rails.

I hope the message comes through that I am as bullish as ever on bitcoin, lightning, and the ecosystem that continues to grow each year. With so many smart people learning, building, and supporting each other, I'm confident that some folks will figure out some truly novel products that can only be built on lightning in the coming months and years.