In some ways Gift Cards have not been very well thought out. In particular, they are hard to distinguish from real credit cards, and this can cause problems for merchants. Well, it also causes problems with the governments efforts to fight against money laundering (link and link) because 1) it is not illegal under the current US law to transport more than $10,000 in value on a stored value card across the US border, as it is with other valuables such as cash, precious metals, or gems, and 2) even if it were illegal, border patrol agents have no way to tell how much is on a card.

According to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, prepaid card issues are claiming that new regulations will drive away legitimate business and drive up fees for users. For an industry that is practically minting money in fees, I find this very hard to believe. However, if this does happen, it would likely drive people away from open-loop gift and prepaid cards, which would be a good thing as they are the most costly of all gift and prepaid cards.