Yup. Micropayments can be cleared with ecash and eventually settled with Lightning. That’s exactly what I do with #nostr #safebox, though it’s invisible to the end user.

If Lightning was more reliable, would it matter?

micropayments of shit is still shit, its not real until its in a lightning channel you control you can go off and do your own shitcoin and claim its more reliable because its an entry in a database instead of real money, go for it.

Your hatred blinds you. I collect ecash in a database and sweep it to lightning at my leisure. Take away the insults and this is literally the model you are describing. You don't need to sweep to lightning at time of payment. This puts failures on the sender. It's bad UX. And for what? 21 sats? Not worth it. Cashu is built on lightning. It is lightning with one extra layer. It's the best of both worlds.

I’m confused about this debate, lightning is also not final on chain settlement. And most people are definitely not using lightning channels they control. Is it just higher on the spectrum of self custody but not all the way there?

With lightning, there are at least avenues towards self-custodial unruggableness.

Ok… what happens when you go viral and those micro payments become a macro balance. You will want custody.