If you want to scale Bitcoin while preserving the unique properties that make Bitcoin disruptive, you must scale the cash layer

First, if you haven't done so, start by reading at least the first two pages of the Bitcoin white paper.

So why is Bitcoin special?

The purpose (and value) of the system is that it enables any two willing parties to make "casual transactions" over the internet with no need of a third party who can de-permission the transaction.

That is the "electronic cash system."

How does cash work? We all understand it intuitively as "Alice hands Bob a $20." But since a digital $20 could be perfectly copied, some sort of authority is required to authenticate that the $20 is valid.

The white paper goes on to describe the architecture of a system which implements the electronic cash system using a distributed timestamp server, modeled on the centralized system described on page 2. The system accepts only the first-seen version of a transaction. In this way, the system models "Alice hands Bob a $20" but distributes the validation mechanism so that there is no central point of failure or censorship.

The cashlike nature of transactions is a product of the system's architecture.

It is clearly possible to construct payment systems (such as Lightning Network) on top of the cash system. However, transactions conducted on such payment systems no longer enjoy the cashlike nature provided by the underlying network, but instead are subject to the architectural nature of the layered payment system. In the case of Lightning, the model is not cash, but routed IOUs modeled on bank payment routing and settlement.

The point is that if you want to scale the cash system, you must scale the cash system. Building a banking system on top of the cash system doesn't scale the cash system. That's analogous to scaling the subway system by building roads.

I think I speak for most of the regulars in this sub when I say that if you'd asked me to invest money in a settlement token for a new banking system based on cryptography, I'd have shrugged. Re-creating the existing system on top of cryptography is neither interesting nor disruptive.

What is disruptive is disintermediating banking altogether, by giving people the ability to make small, casual cashlike transactions with no need for a financial intermediary.

TLDR: Only by scaling the underlying cash system do you scale the unique properties that make Bitcoin valuable in the first place.