Have you? I used to freelance for bitcoin back in 2014~2015 and I could get or send as little as 1 cent paying almost nothing in fees. 10k satoshis was a pretty standard fee to get a transaction confirmed, which even at today's BTC/USD exchange rate would be less than 4 USD.

This is a problem that needs to be addressed if significant adoption is a goal. From what I remember, that has been an active discussion topic for years, so this is not just "newbies making news". Of course if you conceive Bitcoin only as a get-rich-quick asset, paying two or even three-digit (in USD) fees should not be an issue, as you say.


My bank does not charge any direct fees for international wires and the exchange rate is consistent (slightly below the market rate), and that has not changed for years. I would blame more the lack of a disrupting entity that comes and changes the "rules" of the banking industry, so your bank increasing transaction fees is plain bullshit from them to take more of your money. I have observed this in many South American countries: In Colombia, there are a handful of banks that let you send and receive money from abroad without fees (other than a lower exchange rate), while in Chile and Bolivia it is perfectly "normal" to be charged as much as 30 USD for an incoming international transfer.

If banks actually increased your costs to send money because of the number of transactions currently rolling, questioning the technology and processes behind international transfers would be more than reasonable. It is thanks to people (and sometimes companies, to attract more customers) raising the bar that we have relatively affordable international transactions in fiat and are not paying hundreds or thousands in fees.