Hacker News Reader

Comment by tdrz | Hacker News Reader

I'm looking for a European alternative to Visa/Mastercard that works across countries, not just in one country. I know there's this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Payments_Initiative but I believe it's not operational atm.

View on HN

The European alternative was sold to--sorry, merged into--Mastercard and rebranded to Maestro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europay_International. It was the E in EMV. So friendly were European and American relations in the past that it was allowed to happen.

Yes, and the only current alternative to Mastercard's Maestro is Visa's V-Pay :/

I don't think there's such a thing yet for payment terminals. Local alternatives all seem to have died off because banks in other countries didn't support them.

I hope the new attempt you linked will make a difference. This time, international support seems to be at the basis of the system. Widespread integration of a unified form of iDeal/Bancontact/Payconiq could easily replace the need for American style credit card forms across Europe.

Technology-wise this is a solved problem. Uses open-source software too. All the EU needs to do is say 'self-custody is fine, please use a EUR-based stable coin for payments EU-wide'. The market will do the rest (the stable-coin, payment terminals, integrations with cash registers, DeFi forex for places where EUR is not used, etc.).

I hope there will be more adoption of EU stable coins like https://monerium.com, and a payments ecosystem will form around it. The rails are there, we need the apps and the integrations next.

cash.

I'd prefer a card with a European payment processor logo on it. An app might do as well...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com