Bitcoin proponent Paul Sztorc sparked dialogue by attributing Bitcoin’s preliminary exclusion from President Donald Trump’s proposed crypto reserve to the Lightning Community’s technical failures, citing a trove of important assessments from trade specialists.
Drivechain Developer Factors to Lightning Community as Trump Embraces Altcoins
The inclusion of XRP, ADA, and SOL in a crypto reserve proposal linked to President Donald Trump drew backlash from a number of bitcoin (BTC) advocates, who argued it unfairly favored “crypto socialism.” Afterward, Trump included bitcoin and ether in his announcement, hours later. Paul Sztorc, creator of Drivechain and a longtime developer, claimed the snub stemmed from bitcoin’s reliance on the Lightning Community (LN), which he known as “pretend” and dysfunctional.
“I do know bitcoiners don’t wish to hear this, however it’s the reality: That is the lightning community’s fault — as a result of LN doesn’t work. LN breaks Bitcoin,” Sztorc wrote on X. He alleged Trump witnessed LN’s shortcomings firsthand, calling it a “cover-up grift,” and argued bitcoin’s adoption of BIP300, his sidechain proposal, may resolve scalability with out altering Bitcoin’s core protocol.
Sztorc added:
Bip300 just isn’t a matter of adjusting BTC, it’s only a matter of miners selecting to earn more money—However lightning coin is as pretend as any Alt.
Sztorc directed critics to his “LN Blackpill” file, compiling years of warnings from LN builders. Tadge Dryja, LN’s co-creator, admitted in 2019 that LN “can’t really do” what proponents declare. Matt Corallo, a Bitcoin Core contributor, known as LN “kinda a joke” in 2023, citing points like unpaid invoices on account of liquidity gaps. Different specialists, together with Lightning Labs’ Alex Bosworth, highlighted unsolvable pathfinding challenges and scaling limits.
Many individuals level to the truth that numerous information showcases considerations: Lower than 0.025% of bitcoin’s circulating provide is on LN, with capability stale and consolidated since October 2022. Most transactions depend on custodial providers or centralized liquidity suppliers, contradicting LN’s decentralized ethos.
In fact, critics dismissed Sztorc’s claims as hyperbolic. One rebuttal acknowledged, “This sort of nonsense dilutes any good factors you make,” to which Sztorc merely replied with the LN Blackpill doc. Over the past 12 months, LN proponents have argued ongoing upgrades deal with flaws, however skepticism persists amid high-profile exits, together with developer Antoine Riard, who halted LN work in 2023.
The talk displays broader tensions in Bitcoin’s evolution: balancing innovation with decentralization. As Trump’s proposal ignites scrutiny over crypto reserves, LN’s viability stays a flashpoint for bitcoin’s future whereas altcoins like XRP, ADA, and SOL leap forward.
