PAUL SZTORC CALLED LIGHTNING A THERANOS-STYLE FRAUD - THE 80% HE DROPPED IS THE PART THAT SHOULD ANGER YOU
Paul Sztorc, the Drivechains developer, says custodial services carry MORE THAN 80% of all Lightning payments - and on October 4 he compared the way those services get promoted to Theranos, calling it a vast campaign of fraud.
The timing is brutal. One day earlier, Lightning Labs developer Alex Bosworth admitted that private, non-custodial Lightning payments are extremely slow compared with tap to pay.
Read those side by side: the people building it say the self-custodial version is slow, the loudest critic says the fast version is not yours. Both are describing the same product.
In November 2025 Lightning processed $1.17 billion across 5.22 million transactions - still under its August 2023 peak of 6.6 million - and nobody publishes the custodial vs non-custodial split. That is the real scandal. They measure volume they cannot attribute, then sell you the story that all of it is decentralized.
Lightning is not the enemy. Custody is. The test is one question: if that company disappeared tomorrow morning, could you still spend your sats?
If 80% of the payments on Bitcoin's fast layer are just a company moving its own database entries, what exactly did you own when you told everyone Bitcoin is money you can finally spend?
https://loveisbitcoin.com/paul-sztorc-lightning-theranos-fraud-80-percent-custodial/
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npub1kw…qf3xx
2026-10-13 21:15:52 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1kwcatqynqmry9d78a8cpe7d882wu3vmrgcmhvdsayhwqjf7mp25qpqf3xxSeen on
wss://relay.primal.netPublished at
2026-10-13 21:15:52 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "PAUL SZTORC CALLED LIGHTNING A THERANOS-STYLE FRAUD - THE 80% HE DROPPED IS THE PART THAT SHOULD ANGER YOU\n\nPaul Sztorc, the Drivechains developer, says custodial services carry MORE THAN 80% of all Lightning payments - and on October 4 he compared the way those services get promoted to Theranos, calling it a vast campaign of fraud.\n\nThe timing is brutal. One day earlier, Lightning Labs developer Alex Bosworth admitted that private, non-custodial Lightning payments are extremely slow compared with tap to pay.\n\nRead those side by side: the people building it say the self-custodial version is slow, the loudest critic says the fast version is not yours. Both are describing the same product.\n\nIn November 2025 Lightning processed $1.17 billion across 5.22 million transactions - still under its August 2023 peak of 6.6 million - and nobody publishes the custodial vs non-custodial split. That is the real scandal. They measure volume they cannot attribute, then sell you the story that all of it is decentralized.\n\nLightning is not the enemy. Custody is. The test is one question: if that company disappeared tomorrow morning, could you still spend your sats?\n\nIf 80% of the payments on Bitcoin's fast layer are just a company moving its own database entries, what exactly did you own when you told everyone Bitcoin is money you can finally spend?\n\nhttps://loveisbitcoin.com/paul-sztorc-lightning-theranos-fraud-80-percent-custodial/\n\nâš¡ loveisbitcoin.com\nCoupon: LOVEISBITCOIN\nhttps://loveisbitcoin.com/bull",
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