How Mastercard and Visa Maintain Their Global Payments Duopoly

Mastercard and Visa process 90%+ of card payments globally, maintaining a duopoly worth $800B+ combined market cap. Their advantage: a four-party network model (consumer/bank/merchant/bank) creating massive network effects. Every new merchant makes cards more valuable for consumers and vice versa. Pricing power: 2-3% merchant fees with limited competition. Antitrust pressure in EU and US but structural advantages persist. New entrants (Apple Pay, instant payment systems) mostly build on top of card networks rather than replacing them.