Depends on the friends.
If they have a bit of technical chops, understand how lightning works, and are up for managing their liquidity themselves, then node-in-the-phone could work for them, particularly as various solutions for receiving while offline are becoming more popular.
If they are just getting into Bitcoin, or they just want something that works without them having to worry about it, and they trust you with their spending money, then it may be more convenient for them to just have you host their wallet on your node. For instance, my wife and daughters are absolutely not going to take the time to learn how Lightning works, so node-in-the-phone is just going to frustrate them. But I can host their wallet for them and they'll have no issues, and they aren't blindly trusting some big custodian.
This also helps keep Lightning more decentralized. If they didn't have me to host their wallet for them, they would use CoinOS, or Wallet of Satoshi, or MiniBits, and pretty soon all the Bitcoiners that don't have interest in running their own Lightning node, even a very basic one on their phone, will be with just a few major custodians.
Meanwhile, if you have friends who are passionate about learning everything there is to know about how Bitcoin works, and they like getting hands-on with the tech, then you should absolutely encourage them to run their own Bitcoin full-node with a Lightning node.
Dikaios1517
npub1ku…v3lhe
2025-04-02 18:15:59
in reply to nevent1q…7n8p
Author Public Key
npub1kun5628raxpm7usdkj62z2337hr77f3ryrg9cf0vjpyf4jvk9r9smv3lheSeen on
wss://relay.damus.ioPublished at
2025-04-02 18:15:59Event JSON
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"content": "Depends on the friends.\n\nIf they have a bit of technical chops, understand how lightning works, and are up for managing their liquidity themselves, then node-in-the-phone could work for them, particularly as various solutions for receiving while offline are becoming more popular.\n\nIf they are just getting into Bitcoin, or they just want something that works without them having to worry about it, and they trust you with their spending money, then it may be more convenient for them to just have you host their wallet on your node. For instance, my wife and daughters are absolutely not going to take the time to learn how Lightning works, so node-in-the-phone is just going to frustrate them. But I can host their wallet for them and they'll have no issues, and they aren't blindly trusting some big custodian.\n\nThis also helps keep Lightning more decentralized. If they didn't have me to host their wallet for them, they would use CoinOS, or Wallet of Satoshi, or MiniBits, and pretty soon all the Bitcoiners that don't have interest in running their own Lightning node, even a very basic one on their phone, will be with just a few major custodians.\n\nMeanwhile, if you have friends who are passionate about learning everything there is to know about how Bitcoin works, and they like getting hands-on with the tech, then you should absolutely encourage them to run their own Bitcoin full-node with a Lightning node.",
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