Comment by holgerschurig

If we look at this in a non US-centric view, then many other areas have solved this, partially since decades.

For example, in Germany we used to have a bank card, "EC Karte", it is now called "Girocard".

So, if you are a shop and accept Girocard, you pay 0.2% of the transaction plus a fix 0.05 - 0.10 €.

And in Germany virtually everyone has a Girocard, it's part of getting a bank account. The cards are free to the customers.

So assume you're a small Café with 8000€ per months, 70% via Girocard and 30% via credit cards. Then you'd pay ~ 17€ per month for Girocard, but 95€ if you use "blended sum" - a contract with a payment provider to accept all cards. But you don't have bureaucracy. With you do an extra contract with a credit card only provider it's still 41€ for just the 30% of your monthly business.

That creates the effect that in Germany lots of shops don't accept credit cards. The market speaks.

I know that other countries also have payment methods, e.g. Netherland or China. It's just the US banking system that is decades behind what is possible.