Part III: Cards: The Dominant Rail

Cards are still the backbone. Treat them seriously.

This Part dives deep into card-specific mechanics — the protocols, security layers, credential management, and dispute processes that make card payments the most widely used electronic payment method in the world. Part II gave you the rail-agnostic overview; here, we zoom into the dominant rail.

Chapters

Archived (migrated to Part III or folded into Ch 4)

The Money AtlasPart III: Cards: The Dominant Rail