The Merchants Payments Coalition and the Payment Choice Coalition today announced that they are “each joining the other’s group to promote their shared goals of enhancing innovation, competition and choice in U.S. payments,” according to a press release.
“We need new technologies such as stablecoins to make the payments market more innovative and efficient for the benefit of all Americans,” MPC Executive Committee member and NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “We have long lagged the rest of the world in payments innovation. The stablecoin industry needs sound regulation in order to provide the benefits of efficiency and choice that would be so promising for our future.”
MPC is endorsing legislation to provide a solid, reliable regulatory structure for stablecoins, and the PCC supports legislation to ensure a competitive payments landscape. The two groups said they will work together to advocate for policies that will bring competition and innovation to payments.
“In order for new technologies to flourish, we need new policy to create a competitive landscape in current payments,” PCC Board Member Brandon Robertson said. “For too long, dominant credit and debit cards have been the only choice for digital commerce and laws have prevented real competition. Changing that is a necessary step to allow new technologies such as stablecoins to come into the market.”
NACS has long been a voice and supporter of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), which seeks to break up the Visa-Mastercard monopoly. In November, NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor was among the witnesses at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on the CCCA.
In his testimony, Kantor pointed out that the huge costs of the system, which disproportionately impact lower-income Americans, are “an ongoing problem, and consumers don't know it. Everything about this is hidden from them. They’re not aware of the role Visa and MasterCard play. They’re not aware of the other processors in the system. They’re not given information about the pricing or the fact that there’s any fees at all.”