Readit NewsThe fundamental issue is the existence of an iron clad monopoly of 2 payment providers.
It’s a choke point on the entire economy for any sufficiently motivated interest group that wants to ban something that would otherwise be legal…lobbying a few executives at Visa/Mastercard to shut off the taps is much easier than lobbying government to pass a law.
With no mandated open protocol for (legal) payments or legal protections like the internet has, this will continue to be a problem and will only get worse.
Ultimately I think digital payments should be facilitated on government rails just like cash is. Where any decision to block a payment should be determined by law, and require actual skin in the game from elected representatives who are fireable by their constituents.
It has nothing about it being a duopoly, it has to do with the fact that governments have deputised payment processors and banks to regulate payments.
Payment processors as gatekeepers is absurd, even worse the entire system is completely opaque.
A local company who makes swords (very nice ones) ran into an issue where they couldn't take credit cards. No warning, they weren't even told, they were just added to a list and couldn't take payment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIcohyT5Dc
They still haven't completely resolved the issue / don't know how they ended up on a bad list.
The idea that someone somewhere else complains inside an opaque system, and your ability to do business ends without warning is absurd. You can't appeal, you can't talk to anyone, you're just hosed. In some cases you AREN'T EVEN TOLD what is going on.
The US Government has forced payment processors to be gatekeepers through legislation like AML/CTF
This right here is the law that congress would have to pass to make that a reality. A sort of "common carrier" law for money.
Otherwise, they are under no obligation (or protection!).
The other side of this is the US Government imposes strict requirements around KYC and AML/CTF. Banks have effectively been deputised by the US government to enforce and regulate payments.
A bank can't merely process any transaction that comes its way. You need to know who the parties are, you need to check they aren't on a prohibited list, or in a prohibited country/region. You need to know the purpose of the transaction (to pick up money laundering, or drug/terrorism financing).
Ian from Forgotten Weapons posted an interesting video on this a while back:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QusWrho19zE
And then a more recent follow up
He just did another follow-up:
[1] https://cyrillevarin.medium.com/relive-the-star-wars-magic-w...