Go read Satoshi&#x27;s first announcement of Bitcoin on the crypography list. The very first question ever is about scalability and he states quite clearly that he thought about it extensively and it would never be an issue in practice. He uses Visa as an example to illustrate his point.<p>Now go read the Lightning white paper. They also use Visa as an example and state that Bitcoin <i>cannot</i> scale. They directly contradict Satoshi on literally the first Bitcoin topic ever discussed.<p>So I am not speaking for Satoshi in my post above: I am pointing out that he strongly disagreed with Poon &amp; Dryja&#x27;s reasoning right from day one.<p>As you can see above, Joseph uses the same language some of the other Bitcoin Core folks use ... they like to say &quot;our understanding is much better now&quot;. They do not like to explain exactly what this &quot;better understanding&quot; actually is, given that computers haven&#x27;t got any slower. They just assert that it could never work. That&#x27;s unfortunate.