So, one big reason for merchants to accept bitcoins is the high fees charged by credit card processors? So, suppose they cut the fees? Does that kill bitcoin ?
1. There are no unilateral charge backs with Bitcoin and
2. You don't have to worry about keeping sensitive customer information safe. It is impossible for you as a merchant to be responsible for fraud against your customers due to stolen credit card numbers if they are using Bitcoin. It has the same properties of a Cash transaction minus the in person requirement and the potential for easy theft. In fact if you do it right it would be nearly impossible for dishonest employees to steal money from your business.
Taken in isolation it's easy to say well that isn't such a great advantage but when you look at Bitcoin vs anything else on the whole the advantages are clear.
If there are clear advantages to the vendor, it should be reflected in the price to the consumer. A 1% discount may get me interested, considering they'd save more than that on cc transaction fees alone.
Bitcoin also allows anyone to accept payment which could vastly increase the range of products and services available: we can imagine that a lot of individuals and small businesses who do not have access to credit card payments will be able to offer their services and get paid.
Also, I seriously doubt that 2.5% fee is all cost. Visa/Mastercard, etc. are massively profitable - they have plenty of room to cut those fees
All from the most recent 10K: http://investor.visa.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=215693&p=irol-SECTe...
That's a little naive.