Is Visa Really Bad for Crypto? Polygon’s Bjelic Weighs In

The ongoing debate about Visa’s merchant fees has drawn the interest of Mihailo Bjelic, one of Polygon’s co-founders. In a post on X, Bjelic has expressed confusion over the labeling of Visa as oppressive in its business approach.

Bjelic: Visa’s merchant fees are competitive, not oppressive

The Polygon co-founder had to weigh in on the discussion after Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum highlighted Visa’s practice in the financial space. Notably, Buterin pointed out that Visa extracts multiple percentage points from point-of-sale transactions through merchant fees.

However, Bjelic argues that Visa’s practice only suggests it is leveraging its competitive market power. As such, it might be inaccurate to consider the practice as oppressive or bad for the crypto sector. He maintains that it could be considered extractive, but it is a normal business move.

#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

Commenting on gaming platforms’ fight against the payment giant, Bjelic maintains that two sites decided to remove adult games from their offerings. He considers that a “self-censoring move” to reduce business risk.

According to Bjelic, such a development might be considered as lawful compliance or brand protection. The Polygon co-founder maintains, it would be unethical to expect Visa or any crypto wallet to support payments for games that promote rape and incest.

He insisted that even though it limits certain content online, it is still not as oppressive or bad as some people consider it.

Is there looming centralization concern?

The debate might have been triggered by centralization concerns. Since the crypto space thrives on decentralization, some might consider these developments as attempts by Visa to control. The payment giant has continued to make moves in the crypto sector.

Recently, Visa collaborated with Tangem on a notable hardware wallet and credit card integration. The move will help blur the line between crypto and fiat payments. It aims to make payments a seamless transaction.

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