this is just hypothetical, but throwing it out there anyway flimsy as it is. if itch and steam co-operated think they could pull a dlsite? let me elaborate.
officially you are not supposed to be able to buy dlsite points with paypal... but via some vendors who may or may not be affiliated you can. the ambiguity makes it possible.
steams already got the physical infrastructure with giftcards, japan is not happy with us payment processors attacking them, the collective shout mess collectively put a bullseye on visa and co's recent behavior, japan also has a payment processor in the usa still operational jcb via a discover card deal and they have a usa branch.
my line of thinking is steam setting up "steam points" with a collaboration with itch and other select vendors where they can be exchanged for other "points" to get what you really want, jcb being a forigen payment processor that happens to operate in america (that isnt russian so no russia smear dismissal... i cant believe such a stupid tactic STILL works) would make it somewhat resilient to tactics used by entity's like collective shout...
another spanner in the works is musk, polarizing as he is if he gets x payments off the ground that's another option. if he fails that's an attack vector on the over regulation on the financial sector that gave visa and co their crown. sorry for length partially stream of conscious here.