3 ms·

Let me say first of all that the card networks do great work enabling commerce by being lightning-fast and generally secure. I can securely complete transactio

Let me say first of all that the card networks do great work enabling commerce by being lightning-fast and generally secure. I can securely complete transactions and subscriptions with ~anyone on the planet in mere seconds. But holy cow do they have large margins. 40-50%! The profit growth charts on these two are a sight to behold. http://valustox.com/MA http://valustox.com/MA http://valustox.com/V http://valustox.com/V The situation is simply begging for disruption.

SteveNuts 1y ago
It's amazing how it wasn't that long ago that you'd walk into an establishment and ask if they accept cards instead of cash only. Going into rural areas it's still not a 100% given that all places will accept cards.
- jvergeldedios 1y ago
  Even more interesting is the small establishments that skipped over credit cards straight into Venmo/Zelle.
- SJC_Hacker 1y ago
  There was even a place in Silicon Valley would not accept anything but cash, but I haven't been there in 4 years so don't know if its still the case
crote 1y ago
> Let me say first of all that the card networks do great work enabling commerce by being lightning-fast and generally secure. A lot of that is smoke and mirrors. They give a very fast pinky promise of payment, but it usually takes several days to become irrevocable. Similarly, it has taken decades for them to implement any form of genuine security, and even today the main form of fraud protection is... simply having the merchant pay for it. The most impressive part is how they managed to stay this popular, despite being built on fundamentally flawed concepts.
- rprend 1y ago
  Card network payments are NOT irrevocable after a few days. They are revocable for 60 days. This “pinky promise” is not a technical limitation, it is US law: Reg E for “electronic funds transfers” and Reg Z for credit payments. These are for consumer protection, and one of the reasons why payments is hard to compete in the US. Reg Z in particular is far stronger consumer protection than any other country

SteveNuts 1y ago

It's amazing how it wasn't that long ago that you'd walk into an establishment and ask if they accept cards instead of cash only. Going into rural areas it's still not a 100% given that all places will accept cards.

jvergeldedios 1y ago
Even more interesting is the small establishments that skipped over credit cards straight into Venmo/Zelle.
SJC_Hacker 1y ago
There was even a place in Silicon Valley would not accept anything but cash, but I haven't been there in 4 years so don't know if its still the case

crote 1y ago

> Let me say first of all that the card networks do great work enabling commerce by being lightning-fast and generally secure. A lot of that is smoke and mirrors. They give a very fast pinky promise of payment, but it usually takes several days to become irrevocable. Similarly, it has taken decades for them to implement any form of genuine security, and even today the main form of fraud protection is... simply having the merchant pay for it. The most impressive part is how they managed to stay this popular, despite being built on fundamentally flawed concepts.

rprend 1y ago
Card network payments are NOT irrevocable after a few days. They are revocable for 60 days. This “pinky promise” is not a technical limitation, it is US law: Reg E for “electronic funds transfers” and Reg Z for credit payments. These are for consumer protection, and one of the reasons why payments is hard to compete in the US. Reg Z in particular is far stronger consumer protection than any other country