$MA

The Visa/Mastercard Death Thesis: How the Middlemen Get Middlemanned

Mastercard's moat is collapsing as sovereign CBDCs, state-backed payment rails (digital euro, CIPS, UPI, Pix), and dedollarization efforts render the duopoly obsolete. Governments are nationalizing payment infrastructure to escape American financial hegemony and geopolitical capture, eliminating the interchange fee extraction that powered MA's business model.