Who gets the fees?

[Ascholten]

When a transaction happens that incurs a fee, who gets the fee?
ON that, how would one get into the 'handling' of transactions to participate in the collection of fees?  Wouldn't handling the transactions kind of make them like a bank or routing service?

Finally,  aren't bitcoins finite?  in that, only so many are going to be made, and once that number is reached, no more will come out?

With bitcoin gaining popularity, more and more transactions are going to be made, many incurring fees.   Eventually isn't the number of bitcoins going to severely diminish because all the 'fees' are
going to eat them away.   Kind of like sticking a jawbreaker in a gallon jar of water and stirring it,  it will go round and round for a while, but eventually disappear as it erodes away (fees).

Do we have to rely on the 'fee/ tax' collectors' to buy something or some other action to put the coins back into circulation then?  Doesn't that kind of make them the big bankers of the bitcoin world then, much like the ones we have now with our other currencies, which this is supposed to avoid?

Just thinking.

Aaron

[dust]

Fees go to the miner (often a mining pool) that includes the transaction in a block they have solved.  The coins paid as fees never leave circulation.  As the block reward diminishes over time, transactions fees will eventually be the primary source of income for miners.

[Ascholten]

Thank you for the reply dust.

Aaron