WiFi devices being cheaper than zigbee, I wonder if e.g. a tuya wifi device can be connected locally to Home Assistant. It can be done for Zigbee devices, but not WiFi? WiFi probably drains battery faster so the price difference may be negligible.
If a vendor decided it works locally then it does? So possible T-Link etc. but not Tuya-certified? Or different hub device is needed? I've got WiFi/BT/Zigbee hub from Tuya that i'm not using currently, instead a USB zigbee dongle is being used.
Probably once such hub gets custom firmware then it may bridge BT and WiFi?