this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2025
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They would have to roughly make their own form of PayPal, alongside their own bank.
If you didn't know, PayPal technically isn't a bank, it and Venmo use Synchrony Bank... which is an actual bank.
If they did something like that, it could work, but it would have to be at a similar scale as PayPal, that is to say, massive....
Because doing this would/could basically be the nuclear option:
MC and Visa and PayPal would/could drop them.
So, they'd have to basically develop a massive project, in total secrecy.
... Which is something Valve has arguably done a number of times, they are notoriously opaque as a company.
......
Sort of as you mention, they already have a barebones backend framework to scale up from the steam gift card / user gift card balance system.
I am... uncertain if their backend for that already does or does not include an actual legally defined bank though.
...
Problem is that this would necessitate a massively costly undertaking, as well as ongoing maintenance costs, and Valve is also notorious for basically running on what most other firms would consider a skeleton crew for the size and scope of what they do.