The OP has correctly pointed out a flaw in Bitcoin.
As a method of transferring money, it is not very flexible towards small amounts. This is very unfortunate because small amounts make up a huge amount of transactions. There is a whole market out there that bitcoin is immediately excluded from because it is not technologically advanced enough or designed well enough to be able to efficiently send small amounts.
This is even more ridiculous when considering all the computers that are working towards mining, which in theory is suppose to mean supporting the network and processing transactions, but in reality because of the selfishness and greed of miners turns into actually ignoring transactions that don't have big enough fees attached to them.
Bitcoin is a great system but also hasn't been designed perfectly.
http://dcmagnates.com/coinbase-out-to-solve-micro-payments-with-transactionless-transfers/Right, Coinbase can definitely solve this problem and so can Bitpay. If the major players team together and allow cross-micro-transactions than it is a solution. It won't be true decentralization, but bitcoin itself will always be decentralized even if the players on top of it aren't. Utlimately, is the Coinbase/Bitpay transactions in their own system an acceptable solution?
Of course it's acceptable. We aren't going to take over the world with micro-payments. If I want to tip you 25 cents because I liked your post I'm not helping crush big banks. The big banking establishments don't want my tiny transaction either. This is a solution to a problem that Bitcoin wasn't designed to handle. Clearly Bitcoin isn't for micro or nano payments.
It's electronic and digital. In theory processing a $.0001 transaction should be as difficult as processing a $1,000,000,000 transaction. I think it's a terrible shame bitcoin wasn't designed to handle any and everything.
I personally believe bitcoin won't take over the world without micro payments. Because it can't that means a theoretical person in the morning will have to leave his house with two forms of cash, bitcoin for big, another for small. That is just really inefficient and silly. Why would a payment system that wants to be revolutionary also be so limited?
I hear you. I'm not convinced that Bitcoin needs to or should be the only method of exchange. If Bitcoin was adopted by every country in the world gold and silver will still exist and be traded as currency.
I believe you will only need to leave your house with one electronic device and it will solve all of your financial demands. I used to leave my house with a wallet full of cards. My ATM card, credit cards, store discount cards, checks and cash all needed to be available if I needed them. If I stopped by ACE Hardware on the way home I need to have my ACE Rewards card with me. Now there's a phone app called Key Ring that holds all of my cards and it can be scanned at the register. Technology will solve this problem eventually.
Finally, micro-payments can be made with Bitcoin. They just aren't cost effective. So if you still want to make them you can. Nano-payments (or dust transactions) cannot currently be made with Bitcoin. If the need arises that feature could be switched back on but I seriously doubt it ever will be.
All things in life have limitations but some of us want some things to be all encompassing. Unfortunately, life just doesn't work that way.
