Sure, if you never need to dispute a charge, are fine with the volatility, and have an internet connection wherever you need to pay.
Is it better to have some unknown entity at VISA making these decisions based some internal rules and how they feel today?
Visa can be charged by hand no internet but no merchant will because VISA has a rule saying any fraud with a card without a pin the store pays for which is why VISA is down today.
Businesses would rather use cryto.
As opposed to rushing my lawyer in his tuxedo to settle a $8 double payment on the whopper I just bought at local Burger King?
You underestimate the convenience payment processors afford you in everyday life. Approximately 5-8% of my credit has some issue (wrong amounts, double pay, late charges on split payment, chargebacks etc). I don't suppose the percentage will be significantly lesser for any average bloke who makes all transactions on card.
If instead you perform the transaction using a cryptocurrency exchange it won't be public. However, you can't perform transactions if that exchange is down, making the argument that "bitcoin fixes this" a moot point.
What now? With credit cards, you can dispute the charge and get your money back. With bitcoin, it's gone forever.
*Edit: Transactions can be sent to a script which requires multiple keys to forward the funds from that script address to a wallet address. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Multi-signature
This is the primary mechanism for escrow services to function. If the need for a CC-like refund feature is important to the user, one could potentially use a service over Bitcoin which is party to a 2-of-3 multisig transaction. The payment may be settled immediately by the buyer and seller. Or either party may dispute with the service provider to settle according to some agreement.
The settlement layer is rarely the most interesting part of a retail payment system.
Visa’s operating margins are insane. I think we can do better than a global oligopoly skimming %ages of every transaction.
Miners are cheap.. Visa execs flying in private planes are worse for the environment.
If I'm daft enough to pay for something with Bitcoin - well, transactions are irreversible by design. So in the case of non-delivery, or a broken / misdecsribed product, there's no mechanism to force a refund.
If your credit card provider treats you like a criminal - use the free market and choose another one. Or complain to the regulator.
If your cryptocurrency provider is a bit rubbish… well, you're stuck with a single unregulated blockchain.
I know which model I prefer!
Nor my experience.
Eg:
1. You buy something on the internet. The merchant never ships it.
2. Your system is infected with malware and your key is stolen.
Both of these scenarios are trivial to remediate on a major credit card network in a country with reasonable banking regulations, and impossible to remediate on the bitcoin network.
If your computer is infected with malware and your bank allows someone to transfer the money in your account out there are some delay safeguards but you still could lose it.
If you use an exchange they have some safeguards in place.
If your holding the wallet you are the safe guard.
Visa is charge upto 30% a year on balances now.