Dan Held, the Chief Marketing Officer at Trust Machines, recently shared his perspective on the increasing Bitcoin transaction fees and their potential impact on the crypto community. During an interview at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami, Held discussed various aspects including scaling solutions, Bitcoin’s role as a payment method, and the evolving narrative surrounding the cryptocurrency.
Held emphasized that the rise in transaction fees is a result of the growing demand for Bitcoin’s block space, particularly driven by the emergence of ordinals like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and BRC-20 tokens. According to Held, this development is actually beneficial for Bitcoin as it strengthens its long-term security model. He suggested that the fee spike serves as a motivation for users to explore alternative solutions and adapt accordingly.
In terms of Bitcoin’s transition from a payment method to a settlement network, Held acknowledged that this shift has been anticipated for some time. He referred to the work of Nic Carter, who discussed this possibility at the MIT Bitcoin Expo in 2018. Held used an analogy of cargo ships and containers to describe the layer-2 solutions, such as the Lightning Network, which allow for the bundling of multiple transactions and reduce the strain on the base layer.
Held highlighted the importance of embracing various Bitcoin layers and not solely focusing on a single solution like Lightning. He mentioned other layer-2 options like Liquid and Rootstock as viable alternatives that should be considered. Held also stressed the need for openness and agnosticism within the Bitcoin community, urging against punishing developers working on different layers or chains.
Furthermore, Held emphasized the significance of educating users in regions like Africa and South America about the benefits of different layer-2 solutions, which can facilitate low-fee transactions.
As the Bitcoin community navigates the challenges of scaling and explores different layer-2 options, Held’s insights shed light on the positive aspects of rising transaction fees and the opportunities they present for exploring alternative solutions to enhance Bitcoin’s functionality.
