According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against payment giant Visa, accusing it of preventing competition and maintaining its market share through exclusive agreements and threatening to punish suppliers.
The complaint alleges that Visa has a 60% share of the U.S. debit card transaction market, with transaction fees alone amounting to $7 billion. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Visa's behavior was monopolistic and led to higher prices.
The complaint also alleges that Visa uses its market size and corporate holdings to attract potential competitors to cooperate and further increase consumer costs. Analysts believe that new competition in the stablecoin market is emerging and could threaten Visaâs market position.
Visa countered that stablecoin data is noisy and the threat of losing global financial intermediary status is exaggerated. However, in markets outside the United States, stablecoins have begun to replace fiat currencies as the main payment method.
