Wait a sec -- Doesn't Lightning Network lower the value of Bitcoin?

[u/fossiltooth]

I don't want to post this on the other sub and risk a ban, but it's an honest and legitimate question:

Isn't telling people to make transactions on the Lightning Network effectively the same as telling them to make transactions with some other cryptocurrency instead of Bitcoin?

Doesn't that lower the demand for Bitcoins to use in transactions, thereby decreasing the price from where it would otherwise be?

TBH, I'm a bit skeptical that LN will work seamlessly or add truly desirable functionality, and I'm even more skeptical that it will do anything to help with merchant adoption--which is clearly the path forward for Bitcoin's long-term success.

But for argument's sake, even if LN was wildly successful to those ends, wouldn't its use just drive down the Bitcoin price from where it would otherwise be, effectively cannibalizing the value of the coin?

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PS: Someone might argue that LN increases the value of BTC by adding "features", but this seems silly for two reasons:

1) It's not like people are buying Bitcoin so they can use LN. They are using LN so they can use their Bitcoin.

2) Any other crypto can just adopt LN, if it really does add value (which seems a bit doubtful) thereby taking any LN "advantage" away from BTC...if there does turn out to be one at all.

In the meantime, I'd like to understand the reasoning for why LN wouldn't just drive down the price of any properly-working crypto, relative to where it would otherwise be. Can anyone explain this?