Visa vs Crypto: Polygon’s Wise Guy Explains Who’s Really the Big Bad Wolf 🐺

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Mihailo Bjelic, that bright-spark chap who co-founded Polygon, has poked his nose straight into the bustling beehive of the Visa merchant fee debate. (And who wouldn’t? It’s far more interesting than bee stings and slightly less sticky.) On X, Bjelic confessed to feeling befuddled by those who call Visa oppressive. Oppressive? He wondered if the world had run out of real villains and had started using financial corporations as bogeymen.

Bjelic: Visa’s Merchant Fees-Wicked or Just Muggle Business?

It all started when Vitalik Buterin-the wizard of Ethereum with a fondness for stirring the cauldron-pulled attention to Visa’s reputation. Apparently, Visa likes to skim off a few percentage points at every point-of-sale transaction. (If Visa was a storybook character, it’d be the shopkeeper who always keeps the juiciest apples for himself-and sometimes takes your hat for good measure.)

But Bjelic, ever the mythbuster, reckons Visa is merely using its superpowers-er, market power. “Extractive, yes, but don’t pop a monocle and faint just yet-this is utterly normal,” says Bjelic. (And normal is just code for ‘boring unless you’re the one pocketing the extra coins’).

#1 could be extractive, not oppressive?

Re: #2, if I understand correctly, 2 gaming platforms self-censored some adult games (including RAPE and INCEST games), in fear that Visa could ban them? User-facing products have to comply with laws, is that oppressive (and net negative)?

– Mihailo Bjelic (@MihailoBjelic) August 9, 2025

Stirring the cauldron a bit more, Bjelic gave the example of two gaming websites. Faced with Visa’s soapbox stance, they decided to chuck some particularly adult games (🎮 no, not the fun kind), right into the digital rubbish bin. Was this censorship, business acumen or a hastily made sandwich? Bjelic calls it “self-censoring” for brand protection. Visa gets the blame for being picky-sort of like the aunt who critiques everyone’s shoes at family dinners.

To Bjelic, it all seems terribly proper. Visa, or any wallet really, shouldn’t be expected to play banker for any game that’s been banned at polite tea parties (or by laws, which are even stronger than tea).

Yes, certain content is banished to the shadowy corners of the internet, but that hardly makes Visa the new villain. “Oppressive or bad” isn’t a label he’s ready to stick on Visa’s suit just yet.

Visa-the Big Bad Wolf or Just the Overzealous Traffic Warden?

There’s a whisper (or a loud, dramatic yawn) in the crypto corridors, murmuring of centralization monsters lurking behind Visa’s brand. After all, crypto folk love decentralization more than goblins love gold. Visa’s attempts to get all cozy with crypto-such as its embrace with Tangem on a hardware wallet-have raised some uneasy eyebrows and possibly several monocles.

Visa and Tangem’s credit card integration is meant to make payment neater-like ironing out creases in the wizard’s robe. Crypto and fiat transactions? Soon might be as seamless as pie, or at least as seamless as pie that hasn’t been dropped on the floor.

So is Visa really the Voldemort of crypto? Or just a keen bean hoping to stay relevant? Bjelic’s verdict: less dungeon master, more shrewd merchant. And really, who can begrudge a merchant for a bit of cheeky coin-counting? 💰😏

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2025-08-09 16:24