Definitionally, it is (as per the Whitepaper). In your opinion, it’s not. And that’s fine. Because the money is used to transact on a second layer doesn’t mean it doesn’t benefit from the security of the base layer in very important ways. I don’t know what point you’re trying to make with the last two sentences. If you’d like, pitch a rebuttal piece to my piece to Bitcoin Magazine. We welcome disagreement.

Sure, I will try to write one up this weekend. I will look into the submission process soon to see how welcome to descent BM is.