That's not the only downside, this basically kills the possibility of innovation. They're basically solidifying the position of MC and Visa in the market foreve

That's not the only downside, this basically kills the possibility of innovation. They're basically solidifying the position of MC and Visa in the market forever, and make it hard for someone else to come in. So far the U.S. hasn't been so successful in taking the power away from these payment networks, but at least there's a chance. I could see someone like Square coming in and dominating the market with a consumer product in 5-10 years.