Yes, @Traktion has it right; the described attack assumes any unrewarded coins reside in a wallet controlled by the elders of each section.
This mode of security is going to be used for the next testnet, but I really doubt that model of security will survive into the real network.
It’s not really related to micropayments. It’s more about how much do elders control and how do we make sure it isn’t so much they’re motivated to do something damaging.
The rest of this topic about improving bitcoin is too big for me to wade into, sorry!