Digital Transactions: Stablecoins’ Steady Rise
“Our view is we should have more innovation in payments,” says Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores and an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. But Kantor sees a dark side, as well. “Visa and Mastercard are also engaged in looking at stablecoins,” he notes. “If it’s just a replication of their dominance [in payments], that’s not helpful.”
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Digital Transactions: The States’ Battle to Regulate Interchange
“The rise in swipe fees since 2020 has been astronomical, and those are out-the-door dollars for merchants,” says Doug Kantor, a Merchants Payment Coalition executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “There is a measure of desperation among merchants over how high and fast fees are rising,” Kantor says. The average card swipe fee is 2.35% for Mastercard and Visa-branded credit cards, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Fox News: Bartenders spill the beans on Gen Z's 'annoying' drink-by-drink payment habit
Card payments can not only slow down bartenders on a busy night, they can also be costly to a bar owner's bottom line. Credit card fees, which range from, on average, 2% to 4% of the transaction, are assessed with every swipe, according to Doug Kantor with the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Newsday: GENIUS Act could bring stablecoin payments to Long Island businesses and consumers
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a national advocacy group, believes the GENIUS Act "creates the potential” to disrupt the credit card industry, said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, although the group remains concerned that “by itself, it’s not enough.” More widespread adoption of stablecoins will “give business owners more options and allow them to make payments more convenient and cheaper for the customers,” he said, reducing the “inflationary pressure credit card payments have on prices today. It would also allow people to use their phones and other technology to pay for goods and services, rather than carrying around cash or cards, he said.
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CardRates.com: GENIUS Act Clears Senate Without Credit Card Competition or Rate Cap Amendments
Supporters of the amendment are not throwing in the towel. The card networks’ interchange fees decrease the thin profit margins at the retail level and add to the costs paid by the end consumers, says the National Association of Convenience Stores and the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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PYMNTS: Credit Card Competition Act Not Part of GENIUS Bill, But Swipe Fee Debate Endures
The CCCA has been endorsed by the Merchant Payment Coalition (MPC), the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and other retail groups. The NACS and the MPC said in a statement that the fees paid by merchants to the payment networks were $187.2 billion last year, and represented merchants’ highest operating cost, after wages paid to employees. They also said in that statement that they would continue advocating for the CCCA’s passage.
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Payments Dive: Credit card bill crusade persists
“The banks have been so overly aggressive in advertising against him in Kansas, and doing some other things, that they made it a top priority for him,” NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor said of Marshall in an interview last week. “They made him angry.” Spokespeople for Durbin and Marshall have declined to comment, but the Merchants Payments Coalition said the latest CCCA campaign brought a “surge of support.”
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Bloomberg: Retailers Seen Using Stablecoins to Push Back Against Card Fees
“The reason why the fees are so high is that Visa and Mastercard each organize banks all around the country into the dictionary definition of a pricing cartel, and they tell them how much to charge merchants,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member). “The result is all of these banks that are supposed to be competitors, don’t compete on the price to merchants of accepting a card.”
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Daily Mail: Walmart and Amazon plot astonishing move that would upend the whole banking system
'More choice and more innovation is a good thing,' Doug Kantor, member of the Merchants Payments Coalition's executive committee, told the Daily Mail. 'There has been no innovation in 40 years.' For Kantor, stablecoins are a positive step as they mean more competition for Visa and Mastercard, and they could make payments more efficient and more convenient for merchants and customers. However he notes that there are many things that need to happen before stablecoin payments could become a reality in stores across the US. Not only is regulation needed for consumers so they can see it is a safe payment method, but Visa or Mastercard could potentially take control of or kill any stablecoin venture in order to maintain their dominance, he said. 'They have an incentive to stop innovation,' Kantor explained.
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Wall Street Journal: Walmart and Amazon Are Exploring Issuing Their Own Stablecoins
Merchant trade groups have been meeting with lawmakers in recent months to push for passage of the Genius Act. The trade groups, led by the Merchants Payments Coalition, have said that a regulatory framework for stablecoin would enable an alternative payment type for merchants that could significantly lower their expenses and create competition against Visa and Mastercard.
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