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by positiveblue 700 days ago
Disclaimer: I am the founder of Fewsats, former Lightning Labs employee and owner of the L402.org domain

I'd like to clarify a few points and add some context to the discussion.

1) Protocol: While the current implementation of the L402 flow uses macaroons for credentials and Lightning invoices for challenges, the protocol itself is agnostic to these specifics. As long as the challenge has a verifiable "proof of completion" and a way to identify the credentials, the L402 flow can work with other types of credentials and challenges.

2) Micropayments: While L402 supports micropayments, it's not limited to them. At Fewsats, we use L402 for subscription-based services with standard SaaS payment amounts, issuing macaroons with 1-month expiration dates.

3) Multi-currency support: The Lightning Network currently uses Bitcoin, but with the introduction of Taproot Assets (also from Lightning Labs), it will natively support other currencies like stablecoins (USDt?)

4) Open Protocols: The Lightning Network and L402 are open, decentralized protocols that anyone can use and integrate without depending on any specific third party. There's no native token, ICO, or controlling company, making comparisons to bankrupt entities irrelevant.

5) Network health: The Lightning Network has been operational for years and continues to grow and evolve, with developments like L402 and Taproot Assets enhancing its capabilities and utility I would say it's future looks better than ever.

If I forgot anything feel free to as me in a comment.

1 comments

Unimportant side question: why are they called "macaroons"? I find that a bit offputting in its cutesiness, and the word doesn't even give a hint as to what they are (aside from being a flavor of cookie, I guess).
> aside from being a flavor of cookie, I guess

I suspect you have answered your own question - historically cookies in the browser have been one way to identify and control what a user can access, I'm guessing authors have continued the small baked goods theme in naming their own access token.

Perhaps I needed to be more specific in my question. "It's a flavor of cookie" doesn't satisfy my curiosity. What I really want to know is why a special term was invented for it in the first place.
Well, the answer is "I do not know"

Now, if I had to guess, this are "a new kind of cookies" so they just took a name that went with it (like they did with biscuits https://www.biscuitsec.org/)

There are many chances that they got he name wrong and they meant Macaron (with one O instead of two). Those are "layered" cookies, which bring some resemblance on how "caveats" can be understood.