71–80 of 384 posts
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30512981
Please try use Paypal with a VPN or in another country, Moneygram, Western Union or use cash, better yet use Transferwise (Wise) or buy gift cards to get your money out.
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> It does feel coordinated This whole thread has been an eye opener for me, I had no idea so many people had so little idea of what 'economic sanctions' means. Yes, yes it does feel coordinated. Have you noticed it came after sanctions were announced as well??
Thanks for implying I don't know what an economic sanction is. I do not believe this is part of the economic sanctions announced by gvts. This is a private initiative.
"As a result of sanction orders, we have blocked multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network. We will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve."
Source: https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2022/february/masterca...
"We’re undergoing site maintenance. But don’t worry — as there’s no impact to your ability to make Mastercard purchases or payments" Unless you're Russian I guess. As much as I enjoy the act this could backfire as a show of the tremendous power these companies have: shutting down credit card payments will likely impact large portions of online payments. But at the same time every extra inefficiency in the Russian eco…
> shutting down credit card payments will likely impact large portions of online payments. I can't think of a way to reply to this without being trite or insulting, but genuinely, what do you think is the point of a sanction?
But the, maybe obvious to you not to me, consequence is that this could shutdown the entire online marketplace in Russia (at least in the short term)
Also I'm not sure I'd call it a sanction since it's coming from a private company, not a government.
If I were any country right now I'd also take it as a warning to not depend on Mastercard or Visa given the immense power they hold
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So individuals who recently left Russia out of fear for the regime and may be in very vulnerable positions have potentially unexpectedly lost access to their funds until they can sort that out... Meanwhile, for The Real Russians, business as usual. This looks like theatre hurting the wrong people.
Anyone who ran across the border and hoped to get their savings from inside Russia once out were naive (or more likely just in a hurry). This is one of few good use cases for cryptocurrency.
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Thanks for implying I don't know what an economic sanction is. I do not believe this is part of the economic sanctions announced by gvts. This is a private initiative.
Apologies for any confusion, I wasn't implying, I was *stating* that you have no idea what economic sanctions are. "As a result of sanction orders, we have blocked multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network. We will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve." Source: https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2022/february/master…
Please do not use crypto no matter how tempting it is to join the Ponzi scheme as I said before and many other critics like Stephen Diehl (@smdiehl), Molly White (@molly0xFFF) (@web3isgreat creator) and more reliable critics. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30512981 Please try use Paypal with a VPN or in another country, Moneygram, Western Union or use cash, better yet use Transferwise (Wise) or buy gift cards t…
I’m not pro crypto or pro Russia, but the fact that it’s so easy to lose ones freedom to transact[0] (regardless of the specific merits here) is troubling. [0] https://mobile.twitter.com/punk6529/status/14944446246304030...
Hasn't really been a problem for other countries to avoid this problem, so I'm not sure how worried I ought to be. Like so many things, I'll worry about trends when there is a trend.
But wait you say, those are bad people, and I’m a good person, I have nothing to fear! Good luck with that.
Edit: It didn’t take long for a good person with nothing to fear to assure us of his status.
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Hasn't really been a problem for other countries to avoid this problem, so I'm not sure how worried I ought to be. Like so many things, I'll worry about trends when there is a trend.
It has been a problem. There is pretty much a duopoly, look at the difficulties you face if they disapprove your business or politics. More competition is long overdue. But we are testing modern finance by weaponising the financial system. The most problematic move I think has been freezing the central bank's reserve. It might achieve the short term gain of hurting Russia, but what about the long term impact on the t…
Simples
It's hard for me to imagine a scenario where these sanctions (not just Mastercard and Visa, but all of it as a whole) are reduced without a total regime change in Russia. This is becoming a massive divestment, and I'm not sure it's a great idea. There's no guarantee that what replaces Putin is going to be more Western and not reactionary. For every Russian that is cosmopolitan and globalist, there's a dozen Russians…
There's a reason we tolerated the Saudi bombing Yemen.
Call me insane, but this feels insane. It would be one thing if Visa/Mastercard were being forced to do this, but for them to take it upon themselves to "pick a side" during a global conflict feels really wrong.