What happens if #Bitcoin becomes so valuable that even 1 sat/vbyte is too costly for transactions?
How could we fix it?
#AskNostr
Discussion
Millisats would be introduced, where 1 btc would now contain 100 000 000 000 sats instead of 100 000 000. (This would not change the total amount of bitcoin available)
Would this require a hard fork?
This can be done (and already is possible afaik) on layer 2 like lightning, so it would not require any hard fork. (A hard fork could also do this, but fuck that)
If that's not fixed on the main layer, it could lead to centralization, as only large institutions with significant Bitcoin holdings would afford to transact there. Self-custody would become increasingly expensive, eventually pricing out individuals from paying transaction fees.
Not a real threat today, but conceivable in the distant future.
I agree partially. There are however options to use lightning in self-custody, though that requires a bit more technical knowledge. Hard forks should never happen, except in some unknown emergency. I'm carefully optimistic that there will be plenty of second layer options by the time it would be a problem.
How would that make transaction fees cheaper?
That’s what the decimal place is for. You can already do this, however most wallet software doesn’t allow for it currently and by default mempool purges tx < 1sat/vB