Bitcoin transaction fees surge, El Salvador users suffer consequences
Skyrocketing activity has led to a surge in average Bitcoin transaction fees — which rose to US$31.15 as of March 8 — exerting increasing pressure on users in low- and middle- income economies including Bitcoin-reliant communities in El Salvador, the first country to implement mass adoption of the digital currency.
One assumption in the Bitcoin protocol is that, as the minting rate decreases, so processors/miners will make more of their money from transaction fees. What we are seeing now is what was always likely to happen, albeit in the future. Bitcoin as a micro-payments coin was always flawed. Now we see why.
Read that tweet-thread and you'll see many solutions. The point is that solutions are needed - many are blaming the smart contract aspect of the Taproot upgrade for making Bitcoin more flexible, but also thereby bloating the chain and spiking fees.
As an analogy, this is somewhat like storing your photos on your credit card - you'd be paying financial transaction fees for non-financial transactions. Even if possible, who would do that?
IMO this is serious - the Bitcoin chain will bloat like never before.