Bitcoin transaction fees continue to divide, with two well-known commentators stating they “look forward” to paying up to $1,000 to send Bitcoin.
As Bitcoin’s mempool has all but emptied in recent weeks, transaction fees have likewise rapidly decreased.
Nonetheless, the future could see the tables turn once again, entrepreneurs Ari Paul and Tuur Demeester suggested Friday.
In a Twitter exchange, Paul, who is a managing partner of BlockTower Capital, said he was “looking forward to to paying $100 for an on-chain Bitcoin transaction in 2025.”
“That will mean it's wildly successful as a settlement layer.”
Demeester responded by raising the stakes considerably, saying that for him, $1,000 per Bitcoin transaction would still represent value for money.
“I look forward to $1,000. An average LBMA physical gold transaction is worth $7 mln, it's conceivable for on-chain TX moving that way,” he argued.
The suggestions predictably received some critical attention from other users, Paul highlighting the expense and cumbersomeness of current international settlement infrastructure to show Bitcoin at $100 was still cheaper.
“[T]he cost today is much higher than $100, it's the cost of a massive banking bureaucracy and tens of billions in legal costs,” he wrote.
Fee predictions such as these from cryptocurrency’s leading experts are not new.
In early June, when fees were considerably higher, ex-Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Bruce Fenton said he thought users were “willing to pay $20+,” while Blockstream’s Adam Back put the figure, like Paul, at $100.