[stdcli]

you don't have to do it in the street...but yes this is true for many exchanges if you are wanting to take an existing currency and turn it into another one, or if exchanges are how you are looking to transfer money, you can also receive btc without ever having bought it, and send it to addresses and never use an exchange.

Regardless, your point only further proves that the bottleneck for onboarding users to lightening en masse is, if a problem at all, not one unique to that network, or any other payment system we currently use.

[root_axis]

My point is that since its impractical for most people to use bitcoin without a bank or credit card it's not really a viable alternative since the system it is attempting to subvert is still necessary. If you're an enemy of the state and need to move your money covertly, bitcoin offers some limited utility, but for the vast majority of people it is a waste of time.