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by theturtletalks 858 days ago
Who is Visa/MC to decide what’s a sketchy business? That’s for the law to decide. That would like if a 3rd party company decided who can use the sidewalk or not.

Before you say payments rails are not a public utility, understand that’s a part of the problem. If they were a public utility, the people would have rights. In the old days, the government would nationalize the payment rails like they did the railroads and private roads. Sadly, that won’t happen in today’s age. I’d be happy with the government having their own payment rails anyone can use. The government can go after people actually doing illegal things instead of blanket banning (and then approving) and handing that power to a 3rd party. Since that won’t happen, crypto will have to do.
1 comments
throwanem 858 days ago
You may have missed the part where I called for Visa and Mastercard to be broken up as the trust that they are. We differ on the merit of crypto as an alternative, but we don't differ in finding the status quo unsatisfactory.
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theturtletalks 858 days ago
Oh my bad. You were simply stating that Visa/MC are following the law as the government has instructed them to do so. You’re not supporting that law and just stating it like it is.
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throwanem 858 days ago
No worries; I was oblique in my phrasing, for fear Ptacek might notice what I was saying and weigh in on how I'm full of it. ;)

It's not even so much 'as the government has instructed'. The laws around the associations grew around the associations, with much generous assistance and advice from their own paid lobbyists - much as with the darlings of the modern tech industry, in their day the associations were 'disruptors,' too.

When I say 'under current US law,' what I really mean by it is 'until the Sherman Act is applied as written'. It would be nice to think that might happen in my lifetime, but it has been some years since I could reasonably consider myself young.

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