Seems to me that the core of the argument is about payments, and card payments at that, not Fintechs as a general category.<p>The end of cheap money has a big impact on the entire startup and VC worlds of course, not just those sucking on the teat of interchange.<p>Buying customers is generally only a short term strategy, and as the article says, they get attached to the benefits you offer them. Paying $2 to a customer, while charging them $1 for the privilege, is a problem.<p>The rebalancing is going to be hard, and not just in card payments, but also ad-supported content and services.