A Wave of Fear in American Commerce

But a significant announcement came yesterday – not from Facebook – but from the Bank of England, which says it will allow tech companies which meet stringent standards to set up bank accounts at the Bank of England (address at the not-actually-kidding “Threadneedle Street,”) on par with banks and enter the payments business. Anyone who has worked in policy around antitrust will have experience with the little guy expressing terror at something his or her dominant supplier or buyer might do, along with the frustration at not being able to say anything in public for fear of retaliation. I’ve heard from venture capitalists frightened to talk for fear they can’t sell portfolio companies to big tech, I’ve heard from farmers and boutique owners about retaliation, small banks and credit unions on retaliation from their software providers, and even large companies afraid they’ll spook shareholders if they go public with how dominant Google or Amazon is.

Source: mattstoller.substack.com