Transaction fees aren't relevant for average Joe. Most payments would be happening off chain within those centralized systems. You only need transaction for som

Transaction fees aren't relevant for average Joe. Most payments would be happening off chain within those centralized systems. You only need transaction for something like bank-to-bank transfer. With the only difference that you are also your bank and you keep full control of those funds that you didn't put in the centralized service. I would be perfectly fine with digital currency system backed by gold. Only that there's no way to make it work. People tried. You need some 3rd party that you need to trust and you are never really in control of your funds. CPU, storage and network capabilities are keep growing which should be making transacting those 0s and 1s cheaper and cheaper. And regarding cost of the network, it's really low based on what does it accomplish. It's just that you can estimate this total cost, while not being able to do that for say total cost of inside parties at Chase. This is all just my opinion, but as I said, I see bitcoin mostly as a decentralized storage of value. From that, you can fund your account of 3rd party payment system (without giving them your personal info or ability to spend the rest of your funds), and then you spend your money within that system. It can offer fraud protection, insurance and whatever you want. There can be also those that don't provide it, but offer even lower transaction fees. But since it's centralized system and it's just moving data I would assume they will be able to make it happen for below 2% of payment value.