As much as I would like to blame the banksters for this mess, there is too much evidence that it's actually a reaction to 21's embedded chip business model by the soon-to-be-obsolete ASIC miners. Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can be equally explained by incompetence.  Old miners think making microtransactions impractical will save them when the opposite is true. Microtransactions will be the onramp for the third world and the great majority of the unbanked. 

In England, land prices skyrocketed when the great estates were broken up and the peasants were finally allowed to own land.  You would think the people selling the land would be happy about that, but the great lords thought it was the end of the world.  The more things  change, the more they stay the same.