The internet was supposed to make money move like information: instant, borderless, unstoppable. But thirty years later, commerce is still chained to middlemen. A handful of processors stand between merchants and their customers, deciding who gets paid, how much, and when. They freeze accounts, reverse transactions, and offboard entire industries with a single policy update. This isn’t an accident. It’s the business model. Payment companies profit from control. The more they can act as chokep...

The internet was supposed to make money move like information: instant, borderless, unstoppable. But thirty years later, commerce is still chained to middlemen. A handful of processors stand between merchants and their customers, deciding who gets paid, how much, and when. They freeze accounts, reverse transactions, and offboard entire industries with a single policy update. This isn’t an accident. It’s the business model. Payment companies profit from control. The more they can act as chokep...