The hidden plumbing of economic life was built by private actors to serve private interests. It's time to make it visible — and ask who it should serve.
When the power goes out, you notice infrastructure. When the bridge is closed, you notice infrastructure. But the infrastructure that moves money is almost perfectly designed for invisibility — and that invisibility is, in part, the point.
Payment networks were not built to be seen. They were built to be used, without friction, without thought. The genius of the credit card network is precisely that you don't think about Visa when you tap your card. You think about the coffee, the book, the train ticket. The infrastructure disappears.
But invisibility has costs. When we can't see a system, we can't ask who built it, who owns it, and whose interests it serves. We can't ask why it costs what it costs, or why some people are excluded from it, or what would happen if it failed.