Re: $20 per transaction fee
Crypto currency is also touted as being decentralised avoiding transaction fees going to the banks... Maybe at the start it was decentralised but now unless you have a warehouse full of ASICs mining is pointless so for normal users it's decentralised as you can view the block chain but realistically you're not having any more input into it than that.
The problem now is that the value has climbed that high that few people are buying to spend, at some point there will be a tipping point where more coins are being hoarded than spent and the value will come down, still might be worth dropping a few £££ for a couple of months for a gamble.
Also, if doing this monero has jumped from $40 to almost $200 a coin in the last few months... Still small enough that you can mine (slowly) on a decent home rig. Though I suspect that once the industrial scale miners get on it that will end quite quick.