Is it that they have limited competition because the money printer and inflation cause power and control to be aggregated to a select few?
Discussion
To state it ultra simply... how hard is it for you to estimate what your money is really worth now? Or estimate how much it will be worth tomorrow (should I save or spend). That question is largely predicated on existing liquid money supply, future rate manipulations, future liquidity injections via QE etc.
Is a corporation with political ties and influence more likely to get those answers right? Or you? And does that information imbalance give the corporation an advantage in recognizing when you're off the mark and willing to pay more than you should?
I cannot point to any proofs of my suppositions here.. but they make sense to me. And bitcoin fixed this. No one has any different information about existing or future supply.