Crypto Briefing: Amazon, Walmart, and Expedia consider issuing stablecoins to sidestep costly card fees:
Merchant trade groups, led by the Merchants Payments Coalition, have been advocating for the GENIUS Act’s passage, arguing that a stablecoin regulatory framework would create competition against Visa and Mastercard while lowering expenses.
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Digital Transactions: The CCCA Goes Into Limbo As a ‘Clean’ GENIUS Bill Advances
“Support for the amendment has clearly grown to a point where the payments industry was looking to duck a vote on this one,” says Doug Kantor, a Merchants Payment Coalition executive committee member and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. Kantor cited recent endorsements of the legislation from the Teamsters Union, as well as from labor unions in the retail and food-service sectors, as signs of growing public support for the Durbin Marshall amendment. Kantor adds this support for the legislation is proof that the time for “credit card swipe-fee reform has come.” Swipe fees drive up prices by nearly $1,200 a year for the average family, according to MPC estimates. In addition, the MPC cites figures from payment consultancy CMSPI indicating that, had the CCCA passed, merchants could have seen more than $17 billion in interchange relief in 2024, up from $16.4 billion in 2023.
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NACS Daily: NACS Continues to Fight for Credit Card Competition Act
As the fight against swipe fees continues, NACS and the Merchants Payments Coalition continue to push for passage of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) following a significant boost in momentum gained during Senate consideration of the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill.
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Bloomberg: Banks v. Retailers, Again
“We’re not giving up,” said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, whose members include the National Restaurant Association, the National Retail Federation and the National Grocers Association. “If we don’t get a vote here, there will be other opportunities we will pursue.”
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American Prospect: Crypto Thought They Bought Congress. They Bought a Headache.
Banks and credit unions are working against the amendment with their partners at the credit card firms, even getting Vice President JD Vance to support a “clean” GENIUS Act. Visa and Mastercard also have the support of the airlines, which over the years have become flying banks with branded credit cards. The Merchant Payments Coalition, on the other side, has worked for years to deal with “hidden credit card fees” that are affecting their members.
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The West News: Credit Card Competition Act: A Closer Look at the Swipe-Fee Reform
Groups like the Merchants Payments Coalition say lower fees could translate to cheaper goods, or at least slower price increases.
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Digital Transactions: Battle Lines Harden Over a Proposed CCCA Amendment to the GENIUS Act
“Labor’s position is very clear here, some of the largest unions in the country support the CCCA,” says Doug Kantor, an executive committee member for the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “While there are unions that do not support the amendment, they are tiny in comparison.”
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Punchbowl News: Lobbyists duel over swipe fee push
We spoke to two key lobbyists. Richard Hunt leads the bank- and payment-company backed Electronic Payments Coalition, and Doug Kantor is a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. Both are projecting confidence. “We’re advocating for the Marshall-Durbin amendment all the ways we know how,” Kantor said. “We’ve had folks here every month since the beginning of the year, and we have folks here again this week too.” ... Kantor argued the CCCA would loosen the dominance of large credit card players. “You need the Credit Card Competition Act in order to clear the way for stablecoin to see its potential, because otherwise the big credit card companies will lock it, dominate it,” Kantor said. As for a vote: Both lobbies think they’ll win a vote on the CCCA if it comes to the floor. “We’ve had these conversations with every office multiple times, and we have a pretty good feel for where people are,” Kantor said.
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New York Times: How a crypto bill could clamp down on credit card fees
“There’s desperate need for a change,” Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, told DealBook, “and the legislation itself is the lightest possible touch in terms of a change.”
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MarketWatch: Battle over credit-card swipe fees hits Congress again. What you need to know.
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a lobbying group for retailers and other companies that support the credit-card legislation, said in a recent statement that it’s “time for Congress to deal with the hidden credit-card fees driving up the prices of nearly everything we buy.”
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