Hot take but... All the LN is just BTC-backed IOUs being traded back-and-forth. Its almost like wBTC except there's no blockchain and no central issuer. Every LN node is like a private sidechain, they can each issue "LN-enabled BTC tokens" which are fungible with one-another and include more decimals of precision. Nodes track the txns of these tokens on their own internal ledgers, periodically pegging in/out with "real BTC".

Its a set of tradeoffs that many seem to think makes LN "not a shitcoin" and it works to solve many of the practical problems that people have when transacting with onchain BTC.