Well, it's looking like bitcoin isn't quite the platform we imagined we could build to engage in the markets equitably....It's too slow, too expensive, and involves too much maintenance. It makes one wonder: what good is bitcoin? Maybe bitcoin cash will solve some of these problems so that we can start engaging the markets again. When a six dollar fee is required to make a five dollar transaction, then something's wrong! I don't care what the bitcoin Luddites say ---> BITCOIN IS BROKEN! We need something that works.
You are right dude and this is why we need the Lightning Network. I can't even imagine Bitcoin going past $10,000 without some major development (like LN) otherwise who in their right mind would pay 5%-10% fees on every transaction when credit cards are far lower? (2.9% and under)
It just doesn't make sense and hopefully there is a solution very shortly or Bitcoin is screwed!
5-10% sounds absurd, but as you mention, we don't need micro-transactions to be confirmed on-chain. If Bitcoin is really to be digital gold (thus achieving much higher values), we can expect that on-chain fees in fiat terms will appear absurd. What you're paying for are confirmations on the most secure payment network in the world. That can't be cheap judging by the expenditures miners make.
For redundant consumer payments, particularly with companies like Coinbase and Bitpay, the Lightning Network will hopefully make Bitcoin micro-transactions tenable.
The other day I wanted to purchase a 5 dollar e-book; the transaction fee was greater than the price of the merchandise I was trying to purchase! The book cost 5 bucks, the minimum fee (Xapo-dynamic fee) was six bucks, so the total transaction was 11 bucks! That's not going to work! Right now the standard transaction fee is ~5.44 USD (https://estimatefee.com/). <--- That's not going to work and I don't care what color the smoke is they're blowing up my ass!
It's frustrating, I know. I used bitcoin for my last month's VPN payment... same situation. The fact is that Bitcoin, as is, isn't ideal for micropayments. This recent network spam isn't helping, either. There's a lot of progress being made, though. Segwit is now active; as people migrate to Segwit outputs, new capacity will be created for everyone on the network.
The Lightning Network isn't far off, either. The Zap wallet was released in beta a week or two ago, and it's a Lightning Network wallet. Eclair is around the corner, too. The wheels are in motion!
The micropayment markets have been gone for awhile. Now the markets in the moderate ranges are being effected....many (almost all) of the early adopters were the moderate ranged markets ---> e-stuff, coffee shops, vape clubs....this is going to have a longer lasting effect I believe....confidence in the platform is waning. Who's going to invest in a merchant gateway that's unpredictably fickle and subject to becoming obsolete? I don't know, I'm beginning to think the bitcoin cash syndicate was right all along.