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Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#311

Post by harrouet »

"Digital Euro"... Do people realize that maybe 90% of money is already digital, i.e. sitting as bytes and numbers on banks' computers ?

It seems to me that the actual problem that the EU is trying to solve it to find a tech managed by the ECB but that leaves space for the banks to keep existing in payment. They make a significant amount of money from Visa/Mastercard payments.

But we don't need payment terminals anymore: phones and QR-Codes are enough. We don't need Visa or Mastercard: just route payment instructions from payee's bank to payer's bank.

In Europe, we actually already have instant-payment through the SEPA network (i.e. IBAN transactions).

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#312

Post by rsynnott »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #98
__rito__ wrote: post #95

Can someone tell me why the EU doesn’t develop something like RuPay? Indian UPI gets mentioned a lot, but when Visa, Mastercard didn't agree with data sovereignty rules among other rules, India quickly developed RuPay [0]. Now most debit cards in India are RuPay. CCs stand at 18% share. They also integrate seamlessly to UPI. Why doesn’t the EU consider something like that? They want to jump direct to digital currenci…

They are, it’s called Wero. It is a stopgap, and sits on top of SEPA. Goodbye Visa and Mastercard: 130M Europeans switching to sovereign payment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48207004 - May 2026 (777 comments) Wero – Digital payment wallet, made in Europe - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47038965 - February 2026 (132 comments) Europe's Banks Launch Wero Payments to Dislodge Visa, Mastercard - https://n…

Wero is more UPI-ish than RuPay-ish. RuPay is just a local card scheme (Europe has a bunch of these on a national level, but attempts at an EU-level one have largely gone nowhere).

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#313

Post by rsynnott »

petcat wrote: post #18
basisword wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A vast majority of card transactions in the EU are done via debit card. Credit card accounts for only around 25% vs debit. And the only place I've swiped my card was once, in the US, about 15 years ago.

> Credit card accounts for only around 25% If this is true then what will this new "digital Euro" change about the reliance on US credit cards? It seems that the 25% of people that are swiping US credit cards are doing it for the convenience and benefits of using a credit card. Will this digital euro change that?

Most debit card usage is via Visa or Mastercard, is the problem.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#314

Post by leosanchez »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #267
sieve wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took some time but RuPay branded CCs are also available. I have been using them for the last 2-3 years at least. They work, mostly, with UPI. Some merchants disable RuPay CC payments even when they don't get charged merchant fees till the payment crosses the INR 2K threshold. Strangest thing is when I can pay the guy pushing a handcart around selling vegetables using a RuPay CC while a medical store refuses to acc…

The medical store is cooking the books.

100%.

My colleague's father runs medical store. He apparently cooks the books too.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#315

Post by rsynnott »

Symbiote wrote: post #29
petcat wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Credit card accounts for only around 25% If this is true then what will this new "digital Euro" change about the reliance on US credit cards? It seems that the 25% of people that are swiping US credit cards are doing it for the convenience and benefits of using a credit card. Will this digital euro change that?

The headline is probably written for an American audience, or for brevity. It should say "Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. debit and credit card processors". Most debit cards in the EU are either Visa or Mastercard, although there used to be more local/national systems.

Not so much even processors. The problem is the _card networks_ (visa and Mastercard).

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#316

Post by rsynnott »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #286
Dries007 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all EU credit cards are automatic debit at the end of the month, i.e. carrying over balance is not even possible. You will simply be over-drafted on the linked debit account and charged a fee + steep interest if you spend more then you have. Typically until the overdraft is resolved, no further debit card payments can be made. The only reasons to use a CC in EU are: - online payments where CC is the only accep…

Things like 3D Secure only work if the merchant supports it. I still regularly encounter shops that don't trigger the 3D Secure prompt at all.

All European merchants are required to support it. When you don't see the prompt, it's due to this: https://3dsecure2.com/frictionless-flow/

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#317

Post by ifwinterco »

watwut wrote: post #203
amelius wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem as I see it is that you pay your credit card bill only once a month which gives you no bearing on your effective balance. This is mostly a problem for lower and middle income people who live from paycheck to paycheck.

Middle and higher income people dont need debt on monthly basis and see not having that debt as personal virtue. It just makes no sense to not pay things right away.

I would argue the opposite, makes no sense to pay right away when you can pay with no interest 15 days later on average.

In an inflationary fiat currency system it's always better to defer payment assuming you can manage your cashflow and you're living hand to mouth

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#318

Post by l23k4 »

Hikikomori wrote: post #227
amelius wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well in some cases paying with a credit card is the only option.

Haven't run into that in Europe.

Some Europeans refer to girocards as "debit cards" and everything else incorrectly as "credit cards"

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#320

Post by mrtksn »

margalabargala wrote: post #223
hyperman1 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my corner of the world, credit cards were for buying stuff on the internet and travelling outside the EU. Now the net has evelved enough to accept our normal means of payment. I always feel insecure when using a credit card.

As a US-ian I feel exactly that way when using a debit card. A credit card, if misused, can run up your balance and then you dispute, and don't pay anything until it's resolved. A debit card, if misused, can drain your account and leave you penniless until it's resolved.

Yep, that's why I always used CC and pay in full(until it become much more logical to pay the minimum and accumulate interest that is lower than the inflation).

It's much better to be indebted when buying something simply because if something goes wrong its much easier to convince someone to take their thing back when you haven't paid yet than trying to convince someone to send your money back and accept a return.

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