TLDR Tech / Crypto
Why stablecoins are good for the card networks, not a threat to them
The common "stablecoins will kill Visa and Mastercard" narrative targets the wrong fee layer. Only about $0.18 of a $100 purchase goes to the network while ~$1.75 goes to the issuer, making the card networks barely exposed to disruption while stablecoin-linked cards have actually become one of their fastest-growing product lines (Visa is settling $7 billion in annualized stablecoin card volume across 160+ programs). There are two upside vectors for the networks: validators fees on stablecoin blockchains (Visa is already a validator on Tempo alongside Stripe and Zodia Custody) and the massive B2B payments opportunity ($145 trillion in annual commercial flows where stablecoins' speed and 24/7 cross-border settlement are precisely what's needed and cards were never built to serve).
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