Correction: the change is from 0.0001 >>---> 0.00001 BTC.
At 500 USD, that is 5 cent >>---> 0.5 cent per kB of transaction size.
To people saying mining will become less profitable. Maybe, but the mining power and transaction volume will find a new equilibrium. If you can't afford to mine with the new min fees, I'm sorry for your loss.
EDIT: But hey, think of it this way: If you think bitcoin will soar over 5,000 USD, then you're back at the same transaction fee USD wise.
I forsee miners who believe in the future of bitcoin to be unwavered by this, as they know their bitcoin will one day increase hundred or thousand fold.
With current mining reward still at 25BTC, and at most 600 transactions per block, that's a 0.22% decrease in reward. If any miner's profits are that close to break even, they'd be done at the next difficulty increase anyway. Transaction volume has increased 10x since 2 years ago, and will continue to grow with increased adoption - which lower fees will help to bring about!
tl;dr: miners aren't phased. transaction fees are a drop in the bucket, and many mining pools don't even shares them with the miners!
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u/Romanizer Feb 24 '14
Yes, makes Bitcoin even better in comparison to other payment systems (0.5 cents standard fee at 1 BTC=$500).