Fees have risen so dramatically because Bitcoin has a competitive market for transaction fees, which fund network security, and rising demand has made transactions more pricey. The last time Bitcoin fees were low enough for anything close to micropayments was June of 2015, when the cost of a simple send broke five cents. They haven’t looked back since. Even in the deep dark doldrums of the 2019 bear market, with the bitcoin (BTC) currency trading as low as $3,000, fees were consistently above 10 cents.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/paymentsweek/2022/04/28/bitcoins-unfinished-business-why-micropayments-still-matter/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines