Why does this get to the front-page of HN is the real question..
Fintech is a major part of tech, the question is why wouldn't it be? The VISA network relies on many intermediaries and it's bound to be affiliated with some clearing house that may have been undergoing maintenance on it's servers and sine thus is HN someone may be working on said maintenance.
For what it's worth, I just used VISA to pay from my dinner in EU, and it went through no problem.