do you know if it's possible to compensate miners beyond offering them a digital currency? could they, for instance, demand a higher transaction fee? just wondering what happens to the system when we hit 21M bitcoins, and if there are other ways of preserving the blockchain. thanks!
Higher transaction fees is one of the ways that blockminers will be compensated. There are other possible solutions as well, depending on protocol changes to Bitcoin, or crypto-currencies in general.
if miners charge higher transaction fees, doesn't this negate one of the benefits over centralized systems like MC and visa that charge high (2% - 3%) fees on each transaction? that's not to say this neutralizes other benefits of bitcoin, just that applications like microtransactions are not viable? not trying to attack bitcoin, just trying to understand the true benefits and applications.
