Bitcoin PoW Security Risks Rise as Transaction Fees Hit 13-Year Low

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake have raised concerns about the long-term security of Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) model, primarily due to persistently low transaction fees that contribute only about 1% of miners' revenue. Drake warns that as Bitcoin’s block rewards halve over time and fees fail to increase sufficiently, miner incentives could diminish significantly, increasing vulnerability to a 51% attack. He challenges the assumption that rising Bitcoin prices will resolve this issue, arguing that even at extremely high valuations, the cost to attack the network could remain low relative to its market cap. Some experts, like Category Labs' Kushal Babel, dispute this view by emphasizing the importance of measuring fees in USD rather than BTC. The SEC has recently clarified that protocol staking activities on proof-of-stake blockchains are not considered securities, providing regulatory clarity for such mechanisms, which contrasts with Bitcoin's PoW approach. Buterin has also suggested that transitioning Bitcoin to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism could be a potential solution to address its security and scalability challenges.