Merchants in the U.S. cough up more than $100 billion a year in credit and debit card processing fees. These costs quietly inflate the price of nearly everything you buy—from your sandwich to your shoes to your rideshare. It's a hidden tax most consumers don't know they're paying, funding a system that disproportionately rewards the affluent and penalizes everyone else.

For years, digital asset advocates have pointed to crypto and more recently to stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to and backed by U.S. dollars—as a way out. In theory, they offer low-cost, peer-to-peer transactions that bypass card networks entirely. In practice, they've barely made a dent in the U.S. payments market. Not because the tech doesn't work, but because the incentives are misaligned.

Credit and debit cards offe

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