It's February 26, 2024, and Bitcoin fees are high again. Didn't satoshi say we should always allow a certain number of free transactions?
Mining isn't charity activity, so don't expect miner or pool would do that. Besides, it's just suggestion and was never enforced by Bitcoin protocol.
What good is a cryptocurrency for the un-banked that costs more than a bank to use?
IMO if those people are unbanked not due to lack of money, Bitcoin still offer some advantage.
Why is the present status quo acceptable?
Personally i don't accept it, but Bitcoin community is on conservative side.
I don’t find anyone to really do anything for free especially, when it’s going to cost them something to do it. Miners gets to procure these devices to enable them mine and get the rewards that follow, they spend on energy too used by these devices that have pushed environmentalist to take interest on energy used by mining and so, having any hope that these shouldn’t be subsidized from fees is a mistaken idea.
While the model of high fees would not be acceptable, it tends to persist only for a period of time and that in itself is acceptable. In a way, it discourages users from making more and more transactions which would in turn result in scarcity and that is good for the system I think.