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many times I'm seeing OMNI layer questions being closed as not related to bitcoin, but there is no such behavior for Lightning Network. Lightning network is L2 while Omni data sits purely on bitcoin chain.

Can someone explain the reason for such behavior (closing omni related questions)?

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Lightning network is a caching layer for on-chain Bitcoin transactions. The transactions are denominated in Bitcoin, expressed in script, and can either be squashed off-chain or written to the blockchain. Most lightning wallets encompass LN and on-chain transaction capabilities. IMHO, LN is part of Bitcoin.

Omni/Tether is a completely separate protocol that transfers unrelated assets. Its only relationship to Bitcoin is that it writes data to the Bitcoin blockchain in form of OP_RETURN outputs for its own benefit.

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My personal, and probably not universally, held opinion.

The Bitcoin stackexchange site is for questions about technologies that support the bitcoin currency. That includes on-chain transactions, but also other layers.

Omni, in my view, does not support the bitcoin currency. Rather the opposite, it uses the Bitcoin blockchain to support other assets. I consider that usage parasitic: if it provides any value it's censorship resistance for those unrelated assets, and does so in a way that forces costs onto Bitcoin infrastructure without providing benefits to the bitcoin currency.

I think a grey area exists for questions about Omni's interaction with the Bitcoin blockchain. However, almost all Omni related questions I see here are specifically about support for some other token, and those should definitely be off-topic in my view.

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  • As bitcoin usage is mostly price speculation, and tether (currently) allows less frictionless speculation I'd say it's complimentary. But I also understand your view and share similar position on it as a fan of censorship resitiant technology. But it's highly opinionated topic and it's hard to be unbiased that's why the question.
    – Tony Sanak
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 18:19
  • I wouldn't call price speculation "usage", but admit that that's a personal opinion.
    – Pieter Wuille
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 18:24
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I think the last question that was closed: Where can I see a list of dates when Tether burned UDST on Omni Layer? is mostly related to TETHER and less about Bitcoin or Omni layer. Since tether is a centralized token managed by a company and issued on several chains it's difficult to answer this and looks off-topic.

If the question was something related to how Omni layer assets use Bitcoin blockchain or a new project which is WIP: OmniBOLT I think someone would have answered it and not closed.

Counterparty is also something similar in my opinion and One question that I remember answering related to it was:

Why do I see a Bitcoin address prefix starting with 4?

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  • And here you are wrong. Tether is just an asset on Omni layer and it doesn't differentiate it from other assets. Omni allows for Freeze Property Tokens and Revoke Property Tokens, which is a burning type. If you would be more open minded, you might enven know about it :) But it's easy to have an opinion without knowledge.
    – Tony Sanak
    Commented Jan 7, 2021 at 6:08
  • I agree USDT is an asset issued by tether.to on Omni layer and few other chains. Maybe I misunderstood the question because it looked offtopic and something tether.to support can answer in a better way
    – user103136
    Commented Jan 8, 2021 at 2:35

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