It's not a 'natural' monopoly if they require heavy lobbying etc. It's not the 'network effect' it's that the financial institutions i.e. the banking system wa

It's not a 'natural' monopoly if they require heavy lobbying etc. It's not the 'network effect' it's that the financial institutions i.e. the banking system want it that way, and will thwart any system otherwise. It'll be easy to get away from the 3.5% fee we know that because of how it works in other countries. America, shockingly, still does not use PIN chip cards, it's unbelievably nuts. The simple addition of a PIN and a few other things can help reduce fraud substantially. The complexity of the VISA network and disintermediation of 'ownership of the customer' creates problems for fraud tracking. At my bank the 'VISA' dept is totally separate from my other accounts - the entire customer service and data chain is separate. It's nuts.