The Mining Pod | Blockspace Media Can Bitcoin Survive Low Transaction Fees?
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Sep 2, 2025 James McAvity, CEO of Cormint and insightful speaker at the Bitcoin conference, dives into Bitcoin's precarious future amidst low transaction fees. He highlights that transaction fees currently make up only 2% of mining revenues and warns of an unsustainable model as rewards halve every four years. McAvity discusses the pressing need for innovative strategies and governance changes to adapt to potential crises, drawing comparisons between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies while reflecting on the emotional evolution of the mining industry.
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Security Hinges On Future Fee Revenue
- Bitcoin's long-term security depends on future transaction-fee income replacing block subsidy declines.
- James McAvity warns current low fees make mining economics fragile as issuance halves over decades.
Build L2s That Pay The Base Layer
- Explore technologies (ZK proofs, layer-two checkpointing) that regularly use Bitcoin L1 to create demand for block space.
- Work on designs that pass economic value from L2s back to L1 to grow miner revenue organically.
Fees Are Tiny Compared To Subsidy
- Current transaction fees equal roughly 1/50th of total block rewards while ~20 GW of hashpower runs continuously.
- McAvity converts this into $/MWh terms to show per-transaction economics are unlikely to support mining alone.