I don't think they need regulation. I think they need to carry on like they are for a few more years so I can watch them be eaten alive by crypto currencies and other fintech innovations.
Yeah, don't hold your breath. Nobody (with the statistical significance meaning of "nobody") really cares about crypto currencies. At best, crypto-geeks aside, they attracted a share of "gold digger" personalities. That's whether the same media that cover the grumpy cat have covered them, or whether some random company uses a payment processor that accepts payments in Bitcoin.
With Amazon, Stripe, and others merchant solutions, as well as Apple and Google geting into the game soon for webpayments in addition to app paymets I do not believe the reliance on paypal as a quick way to process credit cards for business is as high as it was, further the reluctance for consumers to enter their credit card data never really materialized.
Currently I think a business that only has PayPal as a payment option is harming their business, while you might keep it around for those few users that still only want to use paypal if I see an option to use anything other than paypal I will take it.
Most merchant solutions you mention are only available in a handful of countries. Paypal way more widespread.
I wonder if there's studies or analysis on this (expected revenue loss with no Paypal option). Were I to start an online shop I'd prefer something like Stripe but would be pretty worried about missing out on a lot of revenue.
I worry about your perception of how the world outside of techy people works.
I wonder why Douglas Crockford, a brilliant man, still works there (other than obviously well compensated time).
They've already screwed up and screwed people over publicly dozens of times. Paypal does have to go, but I don't think paypal will die until someone offers an equivalent service.
I can't imagine a consumer revolt, but at a certain point "makes your users feel secure" is outweighed by "makes you terrified you'll lose your money". I suspect that something like Stripe or Square will eventually sell companies on a "we won't screw you over" narrative and start to compete directly.
Dozens of times means absolutely nothing considering the billion that uses them.
Do you many how many thousands of times banks and insurance companies actually screw people -- and yet nobody bats an eye?
Besides the big assumption is that this is due to PayPals incompetence or malice, and not due to BS regulations (that anybody else will have to follow too).
I don't want to victim blame, but if you work in tech, and still involve PayPal in your business in any way you shouldn't be surprised about the outcome. Use Stripe, use GoCardless. Paypal Has To Go®.
I wouldn't ever use Paypal as a primary or exclusive channel for a startup, and I'm not alone. It may not become publicly hated, but if companies end up too scared to give it traffic, it will still die.
If that's the standard, there likely isn't a single major corporation that'd meet it.
They're equivalent to big banks, and big banks never die. Even governments bail them out when they screw up.
Bottom line, the bankers always wins. That's how the world is setup today.
I'm not a financial expert so this is just my naive view of all the crap that goes on in the financial world. Hope I'm wrong...
Big banks screw up impressively, but not consistently. They can go broke and survive, they can commit massive fraud and survive, but they can't be utterly useless at the very act of banking and survive.
Paypal is rapidly approaching that point. It's name is almost synonymous with "we'll ban you without warning, and freeze your funds when we do". It's literally the first thing I expect when I see 'Paypal' in a headline.
Big banks survive partly due to FDIC insurance and similar - they're fairly unlikely to simply strip all the cash from depositors. Paypal, by contrast, has ruined everyone from Amazon sellers, to Kickstarter campaigns, to startups. At this point, I can't imagine starting a business that relied on Paypal without having another, more reliable way of handling payments.
Put it this way: I would trust Chase to handle my paychecks, even if they do make bad investments. If they started randomly freezing 2% of deposits, I would sure as hell not continue trusting them.
If crypto currencies become an even remotely threatening actor in finance, I'm sure you'll witness how quickly governments (being in the pocket of Big Finance) will crack down on them (i.e. you won't have any legal CC to nonCC trading).
Right now, of course, CCs are more of a practical joke.