If you're the node operator then its self-custodial, with the option to add custodial guests. The goal is to let people who prefer a custodial solution keep that as close as possible. Most people share a house/fridge/car with people already, and they'll share a node / channel too. There's no benefit in Cashu as it's the same scenario with either... if you run your own mint then its self custody, else it's custodial. ECash is worse UX because there's fragile gateway and settlement layer between it and real Lightning payments, and on the client side you're reintroducing bearer shitcoins thus making the worst combination of trade-offs: a custodial solution that still requires key management. It's not that Pub is more private, it's just not less, the overall point is that you shouldn't use either for privacy as both are limited by the nodes anonset. Since a node operator has countless ways to deanonymize activity, you simply shouldn't use a custodian you don't trust and ECash doesn't make a custodian you don't trust anymore trustworthy. ECash's privacy benefits would only come at bank or government level scale which is even more dangerous because of how much oversight those mints would have into the flows of the Lightning network... this is why it's so important we make custodians small... ECash is for governments not families.