Call for reconfiguration of nodes to relay transactions with fee-rates below 1 sat/vbyte

In the realm of Bitcoin development, setting an -incrementalrelayfee is advised for those considering adjusting transaction fees from 0.001 satoshis per virtual byte (ṩ/vB) to a modest increase of 0.002 ṩ/vB, rather than leaping directly to 1.001 ṩ/vB. This nuanced adjustment necessitates at least one miner's cooperation to set a corresponding -blockmintxfee to ensure that transactions with these lower fees do not stagnate in the mempool until they expire or are pushed through via Child Pays for Parent (CPFP) methods. This strategy, however, introduces a potential risk by significantly lowering the cost barrier for mempool Denial of Service (DoS) attacks by a factor of 1000, based on the assumption that the impact of such attacks scales linearly with the volume of transaction data.

The discussion further delves into the complexities of comparing historical minimum fee rates with current standards, especially considering the advent and integration of the Lightning Network, which has altered incentives and potential vulnerabilities. The introduction of the Lightning Network suggests an increased incentive to compromise a full node, particularly if it is connected to a lightning node. Given this landscape, there is a cautious stance towards maintaining somewhat elevated fee levels to deter new forms of attacks, which might become feasible and economically viable if fee thresholds are lowered significantly. For more detailed insights into the considerations surrounding Bitcoin transaction fee adjustments and their implications, one can refer to the comprehensive analysis provided at Bitcoin Stack Exchange.