It's functional but not ready for prime time yet, IMHO. Buying things on Bitrefill using Lightning works well. It is better than a credit card, I think. Really fast and low fees. Imagine a gift card that works for any merchant that opts into the open protocol. Also, if you want to refund the money on the card, you can do that without the cooperation of any merchant.

There are a number of improvements in the pipeline. Taproot just got enabled. It seems we need something like SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT (BIP-118) in order to implement eltoo. eltoo would be like the next generation of Lightning, making it easier for users.

So you're saying it's just 18 months away?

https://www.icc3.com/18-months-away-latest-lightning-network...

What do you mean exactly about refunds, do you mean a merchant can refund without involving a card network?

No, I mean unlike a gift card, you can get your balance back from the card without the merchant's cooperation. Once you pay a merchant, it's not reversible.

Ah I see thanks, I see what you mean now. It's probably more like a prepaid bank card?

The big thing it's missing from a consumer standpoint is the purchase protection that comes with credit cards (which does let consumers claim refunds for faulty products etc).

I'd say so. There are some smaller issues here and there of course - but it's getting better all the time. Bought a game on Joltfun the other day, took me all of 2 seconds to scan a QR code and pay.

It has healthy growing adoption: 1ml.com.