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Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

economist.com

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Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#31

Post by karamanolev »

bnchrch wrote: post #15
sudden_dystopia wrote: post #3

This is the best, and in my opinion, only use case for Ethereum

This is something I hope a blockchain solution breaks through. A thought on how to do it. 1. Create a stable coin 2. Create a credit card that uses this token 3. Tie using it to some reward, supercharge it with VC if you have to 4. Release a QR payment component where vendors don't have to pay to receive payment, get rewards and payees earn double rewards 5. Integrate that bad boy far and wide Worth noting that Strip…

So far I think the first step has failed spectacularly a few times, let alone any follow up. I'm not saying the above is necessarily impossible, but at this point I've acquired an instant gag reflex when I hear blockchain. I'm not sure if that's a healthy approach for me, but it's true.

Why does it have to be a blockchain instead of a government-mandated nonprofit (e.g. FedNow) to operate it? Wouldn't that have more oversight and less chances of massive fraud?

Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#32

Post by Levitz »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

https://www.moderntreasury.com/learn/what-is-fednow > FedNow is an instant payment service for both individuals and businesses. Once launched, the initial transaction limit will be $25,000. This means that FedNow be more useful for small businesses and retail payment needs until it is widely adopted and the transaction limit grows. > In early 2022, the Federal Reserve released pricing and fee details for their real-t…

I wonder if this would prevent sites like tumblr or pornhub to be forced to take actions at the whims of their payment processor provider

Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#33

Post by lessname »

alberth wrote: post #18

Let’s compare against other consumer choices. Can the … - Coke-Pepsi duopoly be broken? - Google-Baidu? - Nearly any professional sport is a monopoly (NFL, NBA, etc) And soooo many more.

Baidu is not a competitor to Google. Even if there was an English version of it, with so much censorship it wouldn't be able to compete. Bing and (maybe) Brave Search are small competitors to Google.

Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#34

Post by odrekf »

tossl568 wrote: post #30
odrekf wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean Bitcoin Cash.

I absolutely, positively do not.

It has much, much better scalability and uptime. The other day the entire LN went down due to 1 bad node. That has never happened, and will never happen in the original Bitcoin design (ticker: BCH).

Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#38

Post by toss1 »

ars wrote: post #7

I don't want to carry cash, but I don't need it to be a Credit Card. The new FedNow https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about.... system might take a significant part of Visa/Mastercard business.

Could be very cool - I didn't know abt this, thx for posting!

Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#39

Post by kelnos »

karamanolev wrote: post #19
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

https://www.moderntreasury.com/learn/what-is-fednow > FedNow is an instant payment service for both individuals and businesses. Once launched, the initial transaction limit will be $25,000. This means that FedNow be more useful for small businesses and retail payment needs until it is widely adopted and the transaction limit grows. > In early 2022, the Federal Reserve released pricing and fee details for their real-t…

> Merchants can pass the CC surcharge through Can they? I was under the impression (unverified) that they are under contract to provide the same prices for CC customers as they do for cash or debit card.

That used to be the case, but changed in 2013 when a lawsuit settlement was reached that more or less did away with these sorts of contract terms[0]. That's why (at least where I live) gas stations that charge different prices for CCs and cash/debit are everywhere, some restaurants will offer some percentage off if you pay in cash, and some online services, even, pass credit card fees on to customers.

I believe there are a few states in the US left where merchants can still be required to charge the same, but in most places in the US that's not the case.

[0] https://smartpay.gsa.gov/content/surcharges

Re: Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?

#40

Post by aidenn0 »

dhosek wrote: post #28
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

https://www.moderntreasury.com/learn/what-is-fednow > FedNow is an instant payment service for both individuals and businesses. Once launched, the initial transaction limit will be $25,000. This means that FedNow be more useful for small businesses and retail payment needs until it is widely adopted and the transaction limit grows. > In early 2022, the Federal Reserve released pricing and fee details for their real-t…

>Merchants can pass the CC surcharge through Unless things have changed in the last 20ish years, if you accept credit cards you’re not allowed to charge different prices for CC vs non-CC payments (although there are apparently some carve-outs for gas stations).

IIRC it's only for non-cash payments that you can't charge a different amount for; cash discounts are allowed across the board.
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