We could start using 'Side chains' today you might as well just create a bitcoin bank where everyone has an account hmmm hmm i mean a channel and all transactions can happen on your bank network and not on the blockchain. See i solved the problem. But first i need to convince everyone to use my side network, sooo if the main blockchain is like a stream what i need is for this stream to be blocked so that i can channel everyone to my side stream. Maybe i will call my bank blockstream.
Payment channels and the lightning network aren't centralized; the users remain in control of their coins without counterparty risk. It's not like a "bitcoin bank" where they have to trust someone else to hold their coins for them. This is shitty FUD.
This half-assed analogy falls apart under cursory examination; Lightning isn’t anything like a banking system because you have to trust banks and you don’t have to trust Lightning counterparties.
