I would be very surprised if something based on Blockchain or similar software doesn't offer a solution here. Another route would be to establish a protocol for near instantaneous bank transfers, and try to get a lot of banks on board. The immediacy of transfers seems to be the main reason why companies use credit card services, not buyer protection or actual credit.
I have no particular love of legacy systems (whether they be banks, imperialism, or Electoral Colleges), but what about your comment is plausible given the widespread recognition that blockchain technologies have been oversold, leading to widespread fraud and failure?
Maybe I’m missing something, but the above comment reminds me of the blockchain naïveté of 10 years ago. I don’t mean to be dismissive; I’m suspending disbelief long enough to ask what you mean in detail.
This is possible, and I don't have any deeper knowledge of cryptocurrencies / Blockchain. But payment systems don't seem to have a necessary connection to speculation and the high volatility which comes with holding a cryptocurrency. Maybe I overestimate the amount of problems those payment systems can solve.
There are permissioned "blockchains" which are just private ledgers, that banks could use with permission from the US gov't. These can be anything from a centrally run DB with ACLs or something like Hyperledger with permissioned P2P access. Whether you call it a blockchain or a DB with ACLs is immaterial; it's still much cheaper, faster, and pleasant to use this system over the current system of complex intermediaries in the US. Europe seems to have solved this problem with SWIFT.
There is a system called Faster Payments in the UK, which is "near instantaneous" between the UK banks which participate (most of them offering current accounts as far as i know).
But it is a permanent and final transfer, no easy charge backs like with a credit card, or fraud protection from debit cards.
You have to know which account you are paying into (sort code and account number), which is the main part of what Visa/Mastercard do. They are the layer in front of the bank account which means customers don't have to send money directly to an account.
I suppose now everyone has a smart phone it would be easier to hook up something like Faster Payments in a user friendly way with an app and a QR code/NFC reader that the merchant has. But Visa/Mastercard are entrenched obviously.
Well, chargebacks are not possible for ordinary bank transfers. The problem is that the they are too slow and not convenient enough. This is a software / standardization issue. Credit: PayPal is successful despite it only offering very short credits in order to ensure quick transfers. And in physical shops credit cards often seem to be no more than a convenient way to pay without cash. In Germany you can actually pay in all shops and restaurants with a form of debit card, which is just as convenient as paying with credit cards, but has less fees for the shop, since there is no credit card company in the middle. As a result most people don't own a credit card. This doesn't work so well online though.
> I would be very surprised if something based on Blockchain or similar software doesn't offer a solution here.
There is, it's a layer-2 on Ethereum called zkSync. It's not totally satisfactory (the company that makes it can steal your money, centralized sequencer, etc), but it's pretty mature and works quite well. To replace Visa you want high throughput and low latency and zk-rollups like zkSync can provide both. (There are other options too, like Starknet, but AFAIK zkSync is the most mature.)
No PayPal is basically a credit card company. It is an intermediary which gives short credits in order to achieve near instantaneous payments. And extracts fees along the way.
