I'd like to share my opinion why there is problem with the traditional banking system. It is fast and private, but very centralized and controlled. Of course we all know the worldwide issues related to control of financial systems. The only way to return financial freedom to individuals is by removing that third party. You become you're own banker. You become in complete control of your money. As money originally was, there should only be two parties in a transaction. You and the counter party.
Bitcoin solves this through cryptographic functions that are all designed to remove that third party. It is through a method of decentralized consensus, cleverly setup for each participant to act in their own self-interest.
But to be honest bitcoin isn't perfect solution too.. By its design, bitcoin's trustless network is much slower than the traditional banking system. People see the need for crypto to compete with its speed and ease of use. For this reason we keep moving closer and closer to having a third party in the middle (its a gray fuzzy line what you consider this to be). If we returned to having a trusted third party, the system would be faster and more private, but we will have simply recreated the same banking system on a blockchain, essentially only reshaping those centralized points of control and censorship.
I am not saying I have an answer for scaling, or even discussing that. I am simply pointing out with that article how sad it is to see that the mainstream wants bitcoin to return to the traditional banking system. I don't think they even realize what they are saying. The CEO of Lighting Labs literally says in one of the article that Bitcoin is good because it is decentralized, but that consensus mechanism makes it slow. By moving away from that, it is making it faster and today is a great day as it becomes even more like SWIFT, which of course is the traditional financial system currently being controlled by government to decide who gets to use money.
If transactions move away from a decentralized consensus network, and become more like SWIFT, at what point does it become possible for my transaction sent to a "black listed" address to be censored? At what point do I need permission to use funds how I choose?
So that's all. Not solving scaling today. Just pointing out how sad it is to see us moving further and further away from what bitcoin was meant to solve. I don't mean in solving digital cash or creating a money, I mean simply in regards to removing the trusted third party. The promise of financial freedom through uncensorable, permissionless, trustless transactions.
