A $1 purchase is not a normal transaction that a normal person makes with an international payment system. I've been complaining about this increasingly loudly since 2012, long before Blockstream was founded.
a $1 purchase is a normal transaction. i can think of a million things people can buy.. the mindset you and others have is that america dominates.
do you realise that some countries only get paid $1 every 3 hours as a wage. that you can by a large plate of food for under $1. where $1 if used wisely can buy a couple bags of groceries..
once you move your mindset out of Emerica. and think of the world as a whole. you will see that your own preference is actually pricing 4billion people out of possibly using bitcoin for "normal transactions"
EG 1.3billion of china, minimum wage ~80cents
so if you think while being in ameria $7.50-$9 is a "normal transaction" then $1 is "normal transaction" to 1.3billion chinese
EG 1.2billion of china, minimum wage ~30cents
so if you think while being in ameria $7.50-$9 is a "normal transaction" then $1 is "normal transaction" to 1.2billion indians
so get your mindset out of the 300million americans and think of the 4billion-7billion world that do think $1 is "normal transaction" amount
You just have to get used to the fact that Bitcoin simply isn't meant for microtransactions, and anyone who insists on using it for that purpose just has to accept the higher fees that this usage requires.
but if blockstream expand its capacity. and stop with the fee greed. (it is possible to do without datacenters)
EG 2mb+ libsecp256k is fast processing times and more capacity.(that home users can afford to run without special servers
EG 2mb+ libsecp256k1 +segwit is even more capacity, and again manageable on home computers.
but
1mbsegwit + huge fee's to sway people over to sidechains.. is not expanding bitcoin, but making blockstreams pre-mined coins go from valueless to valuable, while strangling bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not, never was, and never will be suitable for microtransactions, and was never intended to be. Bitcoin is a fast, secure, global payment network that obviates the need for banks or other trusted third parties. Using Bitcoin for microtransactions is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If you insist on doing this anyway, please don't complain that a sledgehammer is more expensive than a nutcracker.
bitcoin WAS suitable. for microtransactions.. thats what the 8 decimals are for!. the problem is the greed of fiat lovers pricing bitcoin into unsuitability
Remember. Those are the things that I have said. You can't change that, regardless of when I said it.