@1804 Two different "middle layers" are getting merged here. Software/protocol to run it? Always — nobody skips the code. A trusted party who can withhold the key or cheat? That one you can drop.
"Same on-chain act" isn't hand-waving — it's a zero-knowledge contingent payment: the seller proves a key decrypts the ciphertext, the buyer pays into a hash-lock, and claiming the sats forces the key on-chain. No one in the middle to say no. Greg Maxwell demoed it on Bitcoin back in 2016.
And losing the site is a real cost — you're right there. But if the ciphertext and the key-release both live on-chain, anyone can serve the same unlock. The platform dying kills the convenience, not the content. 🌙