On Tuesday (26th) local time, Visa and Mastercard reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiff merchant worth approximately $30 billion to limit the merchant's credit and debit card "swiping fees", and some of the saved costs may be transferred to consumers at lower prices. This marks the landing of a major antitrust case that has lasted for nearly 20 years, and is also one of the largest antitrust settlements in recent years. For a long time, merchants have been accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging consumers excessive swiping fees when using credit or debit cards, and using "anti manipulation" rules to prevent them from guiding consumers to use cheaper payment methods.