Justice Department accuses Visa of debit network monopoly that affects price of 'nearly everything’
Justice Department accuses Visa of debit network monopoly that affects price of 'nearly everything’
Visa and Mastercard have surged over the past two decades, reaching a combined $1 trillion market cap. That has attracted unwanted attention from regulators.
EMVCo has been a terrible monopolistic cartel for decades. They literally control who gets access to the payment network and they can cut you off instantly without a court order - virtually holding the ability of every company on Earth to conduct business at their mercy: if they don't like you, you're dead.
EMVCo is the most egregious and most dangerous global cartel nobody is talking about. And the DoJ only figured that out now? Justice is not just blind, it's also asleep.
While I generally agree, I do think the Justice Department is beginning to press these cases more often. They just got Google legally recognized as a monopolist, so it seems to be working so far, probably because they took their time building up a strong case.
The DoJ will never touch EMV. They're much, MUCH more entrenched and powerful than even Google. They literally control payments worldwide - the very fabric of society. No government in the world wants to touch that rat's nest with a 10-foot pool, because if payments start to show even a hint of added friction, it can literally bring down a country's GDP.
That's why EMV has been allowed to operate virtually unchecked, and dictates who gets to be on their network with zero pushback - especially since the people EMV strikes off their network are usually people the government would like to get rid of too, like Wikileaks. So the powers that be are very happy to maintain the status quo.
A true case of fascist-style collusion between the state and the private sector. This cartel will never be broken.
2010 Olympics they tried to break their debit system into the Canadian market.
We used Cash or Visa credit cards for the Olympics, their debit system is atrociously predatory. The Interact system is completely superior to any debit system in the US.