Commenters that defend Lighting say a lot of silly words trying to confuse you, but its all smoke and mirrors. If transactions are not reported to the Bitcoin ledger (exactly what happens) then *you are not trading bitcoin*. Period. The Author has explained everything correct. The only reported to the bitcoin ledger transactions are the initial ones (committing bitcoins to a channel). Everything else traded is a derivative. Financial tool. You would be trading Bitcoin derivatives on a non-bitcoin network.