10 Reasons Your Holiday Shopping in 2026 Will Run on the 'Layer 2' Blockchain

4. Retailers save on card-processing costs

Merchant fees on credit and debit cards squeeze holiday margins. During peak seasons, those fees add up and often get passed to consumers as higher prices or fewer discounts. Layer 2 rails offer lower settlement costs because they batch and compress transactions before anchoring to a main chain. That can reduce per-transaction take by payment processors or bypass some intermediaries entirely. If enough merchants adopt Layer 2 rails for certain flows, retailers could cut processing expenses and either raise margins or reinvest savings into better deals. The sweet spot is high-volume, low-margin items where even a small fee cut matters. Research shows institutional and infrastructure players are investing in crypto rails and custody, which helps merchants feel confident about routing payments on these networks. If merchants see a clear cost advantage, they’ll test Layer 2 holiday promos — and that affects shoppers through better prices or more incentives.