I hate to say it, but this is what the future of crypto is going to look like. The signs were there ever since Neo & Bee spun up back in the mid 2010's (and then promptly blew up).

Originally, maybe, but even the most dedicated Bitcoin purists I've seen have long since agreed that we're going to need layers such as the Lightning Network on top. Some middleware serves a legitimately valuable purpose that can't easily be integrated end-to-end.

Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.

It's my theory that crypto is following the same arc that Microsoft used to dominate personal computers and office software.

Paypal recently announced crypto integration. Other payment processors will follow. Eventually merchants will want to save 3% and accept crypto directly. They might even pass the savings to the user.