$20 card minimum… or cash discount. Visa and Mastercard are turning up the fee heat on merchants. Starting in October, the payment processors will hike the fee that businesses pay every time shoppers swipe their credit cards. US merchants paid a record $160B in interchange fees last year, up more than 5X from a decade ago. The new hikes could result in another $500M+ paid out annually and translate into higher prices for shoppers (businesses often pass on the costs). A bill in Congress seeks to curb swipe fees, but TBD if it’ll pass.
Crypto’s big W… Last week, a court ruled that the SEC was wrong to deny Grayscale’s bitcoin ETF application. (Grayscale = world’s biggest crypto fund.) A bitcoin ETF would let investors get exposure to bitcoin without actually owning it, which could spur more mainstream investment. Bitcoin surged on the news but fell later in the week after the SEC delayed its decision on other bitcoin ETF applications — including those from Fidelity and BlackRock. Some experts suggest it’s just a matter of time before bitcoin ETFs hit the market.