According to @QCompounding, Visa and Mastercard together handle the vast majority of card transactions and take a small cut on each payment, highlighting hard-to-replicate network effects that matter for equity positioning in V and MA (source: @QCompounding). Both networks monetize every swipe via assessment and processing fees, with revenue primarily driven by payments volume, processed transactions, and value-added services, while cross-border activity carries higher revenue yield per dollar of spend (source: Visa 2023 Form 10-K; Mastercard 2023 Form 10-K). For trading setups, monitor cross-border volume growth and net revenue yield stability as core earnings drivers for V and MA, alongside expense discipline and operating leverage signaled in management disclosures (source: Visa 2023 Form 10-K; Mastercard 2023 Form 10-K). Crypto tie-in: Visa expanded USDC settlement capabilities to Ethereum and Solana in pilot programs with acquirers, and Mastercard launched its Multi-Token Network to test blockchain-based settlement and tokenized value transfer, developments that can influence payment-utility narratives for ETH, SOL, and USDC (source: Visa blog Expanding USDC stablecoin capabilities to Solana by Visa, Sep 2023; Mastercard newsroom Introducing Mastercard Multi-Token Network, Jun 2023). Competitive context in filings lists UnionPay, American Express, Discover, and real-time account-to-account rails, but both firms emphasize global acceptance, issuer and merchant relationships, and risk infrastructure as durable advantages supporting transaction fee economics (source: Visa 2023 Form 10-K; Mastercard 2023 Form 10-K).