The Crypto Threat That’s Skipping the Swipe
A major turf war is heating up in the payments worldand Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) suddenly find themselves on defense. Stablecoins like USDC are gaining traction, with companies like Shopify, Coinbase, and Stripe quietly rerouting payments around traditional card networks. For merchants, the pitch is irresistible: faster settlement, fewer fees, and no middlemen. With U.S. businesses spending roughly $187 billion a year on card swipe fees, even a small shift could redraw the map. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has hinted the stablecoin marketnow at $253 billioncould reach $2 trillion in the next few years. That’s not a side bet. That’s a direct hit.
Visa and Mastercard aren’t sitting still. They’re flipping…
