We need digital euro. There are advances, but it's still going too slow.

https://taler.net/

It exists, it is called Wero. Check with your European bank if they support it. Many do.

Funny how when Visa and MasterCard cut off cross-border payments in Russia — by their own initiative, without any laws forcing them to do that — Westerners all cheered. Then three years later it finally hit them as to what that means.

Meanwhile Russia was building their own payment system since 2014, and it was already working nationwide before '22, so people just got a new card if they wanted, and the system currently dominates the country's market.

Source? You only linked an image

We need an open platform for payments, not just another centralized solution.

I thought that there was already an EU payment system in the pipeline, due to roll out completely in 2026? Or did I make that up.... 🤔

EDIT - Wero - https://sbs-software.com/insights/wero-europe-payment-race/

Not European, but here's a structure that I think would be best (for all currencies, European or not).

Central bank creates a nationalised corporation "National payments processor". Loans out money to NPP to create a copyleft MasterCard competitor.

NPP's objectives are to reduce interchange fees, establish sovereignty in this space while keeping transactions secure.

Now, from what I understand, a retailer cannot charge different rates for different payment processors. Meaning, if I am a retailer, I can't charge more to customers who pay using Amex (who have high interchange fees) compared to those who pay using visa/MasterCard (lower fees).

Meaning, if NPP keeps interchange fees low, the benefit would be passed on to retailers directly. Consumers would see 0 benefit. If consumers see 0 benefit, no one's going to pay using NPP. This is the case with interac in Canada. Interac payments are better for retailers. But I see 0 cashbacks through my interac card. Why should I not use my visa credit card instead that gives me better cashbacks?

Therefore, here's what NPP does: it charges marginally less interchange fees compared to visa Mastercard, WHILE passing most of the fees charged to the retailer directly to the consumer as direct cashback.

Consumer adoption happens because of better cashbacks, retailer adoption happens because there are people willing to pay using an NPP card (and also the sliiiightly less interchange fees).

Now, to the organisational structure of NPP. State owned corps are prone to corruption. Accountability structures are top down. If I, the taxpayer owner of NPP am seeing corruption in NPP, I have to threaten my MP with my vote, who has to threaten the PM with their vote, who then has to threaten the finance minister with their job, who then has to threaten the head of the central bank with their job, who then has to threaten the ceo of NPP with their job.

Instead, while the state maintains equity over NPP, the operations of NPP are controlled by a state started consumer cooperative, where member owners are those who own an NPP card. This way, accountability structures are much more direct. The inefficiencies of state owned corps are severely reduced while maintaining the benefits.

Just copy Pix and be done with it.

Wero!

at least we have Wirecard

I don't understand how this is an issue. In France there exists CB and as far as I understand other EU countries have got their own equivalent national Visa/MasterCard competitor... Why do some countries not have their own ? Why can't they just enter in an agreement to use this ? Why do people always comment about this app or this other app.

Japan started JCB in 1961.

For years I am watching the cryptocurrency Nano ($XNO). As many cryptocurrencies, it is free / libre / open source, decentralized (belongs to no nation). But it is also totally without fees (I haven't believed it but checked and it is really true), super fast (full confirmation under 1 second) and super energy efficient (on par with usual bank card transaction). And the guys beyond it are there for the original goal of crypto - enabling independent money usage - while also explicitly distancing themselves from speculative "investing".

But it is not yet "commercial grade", so big companies are for now not encouraged to use it for high throughput use cases. And it is also not yet widely accepted by vendors, and widely owned by paying customers. Basically the chicken and egg problem...

Eliminate the need for central banking altogether, buy and sell in Bitcoin