Lightning network payments can be routed through other users/nodes. So you only need one "on chain" transaction to then be able to send those funds back and forth to any other user in the network.
eg: Alice opens a channel with Bob. Charlie opens a channel with Bob. Alice can send payments to Charlie by having them routed through Bob (in a trustless way using Hashed Timelock Contracts).
There are valid concerns around what the topology looks like and how efficient it is to find optimal routes through a large network. These are the problems the developers are working on though.
Haha. Well that's why the amounts of money people are putting in the network right now are very small. It's certainly not something anyone recommends using for large payments, at least yet.
I think many people envision it something like an account balance you top up as you need to.
None of this should have much of anything to do with investments. I don't "invest" in crypto in the same way that I don't "invest" in the Euro, or even in the US dollar.
I put the vast majority of my money in the stock market. And I have some money in other currencies, centralized services like venmo/paypal/ect, and yes, a bit in crypto. Currencies which I then use to spend on things.
The point of a currency, yes even cryptocurrencies, is to SPEND it, not hold it.
completely agree re your argument that the point of cryptocurrencies is to SPEND it. all the hodling isn't making cryptocurrency adoption easy. but also def a lot of work needed for solving scalability issues and making cryptocurrency spending more end-user friendly.
eg: Alice opens a channel with Bob. Charlie opens a channel with Bob. Alice can send payments to Charlie by having them routed through Bob (in a trustless way using Hashed Timelock Contracts).
There are valid concerns around what the topology looks like and how efficient it is to find optimal routes through a large network. These are the problems the developers are working on though.