Question: When Bitcoin is no longer priced in fiat, and 1 btc = 1 btc, what’s to keep the cost of electricity, and by extension Bitcoin transactions, from inflating beyond the reach of the average Bitcoiner
Discussion
You're almost asking the right question. We will get priced out long before that happens actually.
If the wealthy, banks/corporations, and nation states start using Bitcoin to a significant degree, moving millions (USD equivalent) around, will they care about 'high' fees?
0.1% of $1,000,000 is $1,000. That will seem cheap to anyone trying to send over $1 million worth of sats, but will make it too costly for us plebs to use the network. Most of our UTXOs will become unspendable unless they've already been committed to lightning channels.
We'll be forced to use custodial lightning services that can afford to manage large payment channels for us. Banking system 2.0 for the poor. Financial self-sovereignty only for the wealthy.