Lightning - Bitcoin is first locked into a payment channel on the main Bitcoin blockchain. Once the channel is open, users can conduct an unlimited number of transactions off-chain within that channel. Cashu - Utility tokens that are redeemable for Bitcoin. They are an IOU or digital cash equivalent secured by a trusted (or federated) mint, which is a key difference from holding the Bitcoin itself in your non-custodial wallet. This introduces an element of custody and trust in the mint operator that is not present in running a node.

Gotta disagree with you there Derek. Or make a clarifying statement. If it’s lightning and on my personal node it’s settled. Cashu in a mint isn’t settled and can be rugged and used as a fractional reserve. We can potentially say that a custodial Lightning payment or holding is similar. But that’s still bitcoin. Cashu is a ledger. And the mint just “says” it has X number of sats.