Hacker News: 202508042147

New comment by 202508042147 in "Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard"

202508042147 — Fri, 08 May 2026 13:42:49 +0000

Looking forward to a European-wide payment system. Sure, there are apps probably in each individual country that you can use to pay (via a QR code) or easily transfer money (usually using a phone number). But there are cases like renting a car or paying abroad which are not covered. Seems a bit crazy considering this is a common market. Why don't these apps look to expand more aggresively in the EU? I know there's Wero, but why aren't they more bald in their approach? I also know there's the digital euro promoted by the European Commission, but I'm not holding my breath for that. It takes way too long and my feeling is that it is being used mostly to pressure the US. I don't think we'll be able to use it anytime soon.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard"

202508042147 — Fri, 08 May 2026 13:31:17 +0000

Twint is great, I wish more Swiss based people would use it. In the expat community most are using Visa/MC through Apple Pay. I have no idea why.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard"

202508042147 — Fri, 08 May 2026 13:30:26 +0000

That's what I am afraid of. The resistance from the incumbents plus the external pressure from the US (and China?) might be to strong. Better go with a federated approach, mandating all the different payment apps available all over the EU to allow connections from other participants.

In any case, the digital euro seems to take years (earlier expected date is 2029). I don't understand why it takes so long.

Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa

202508042147 — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 09:14:35 +0000

Article URL: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/03/04/why-europe-needs-a-payment-system-independent-of-mastercard-and-visa

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47244980

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

How close is the EU to break free from Visa and Mastercard's grip?

202508042147 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 10:03:40 +0000

Article URL: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/03/03/how-close-is-the-eu-to-break-free-from-visa-and-mastercards-grip

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47230391

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by 202508042147 in "Danish government agency to ditch Microsoft software (2025)"

202508042147 — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:49:07 +0000

I know someone that works in the central government of an EU country and have persuaded her to talk to the IT department in the ministry where she works to try to move away from Microsoft products. The short answer: "It's not possible for us to move away from Microsoft". And it's not that they don't want to, but they have extremely low IT resources + the employees are very reluctant to make any change. Sometimes they introduce a new program, or update an older one and there's massive whining in the entire ministry. These public employees should really try to adapt more and understand that digital environments have become crucial for independence, privacy and self-reliance.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Danish government agency to ditch Microsoft software (2025)"

202508042147 — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:44:14 +0000

> [...] anymore after Trump.

We shouldn't have waited until Trump, we had clear signs of distrust when the Americans were spying on Angela Merkel and other European officials [1].

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-security-agency-spie...

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 17:14:05 +0000

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I am confident that those banking apps will (eventually) work without the likes of Google Play Services. Additionally, what i really want is an alternative to Visa/Mastercard, meaning I can use it for renting a car or paying online.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:37:48 +0000

Looking forward having this in the country where I live and in the countries I mostly travel to! Well, actually all over EU.

What is unclear to me atm, is it possible to rent a car using wero? Also, can I pay online with it?

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:01:18 +0000

I wouldn't go this way, at least not now. But the European Commission should mandate the usage of EU based software for every public institution in the EU, at all levels. That means from the European Parliament all the way down to municipalities. So no more Windows, Office, Azure, AWS etc. in public institutions all across the EU.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:25:28 +0000

+1 for bare metal! I wish I could convince more C level people that that's what we need most of the time.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:17:46 +0000

> And if you are a start-up and you want to grow, the situation is even more dire.

I worked for/with several European startups. They really didn't need nor aim for planet scale operations.

There are also quite a lot of articles about how startups (in any country) focus needlesly on large scalability when they only really have a few customers. It's exactly the same false issue here.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:14:57 +0000

Yes, there are local alternatives like Pix here as well, but they only work in the same country. I need something that works across EU countries, like wero. I also need something that works on every site when I buy online and I can also use it when renting a car. So a real Visa/Mastercard alternative.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:11:54 +0000

Going with the default, we were already using other services from them.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:09:46 +0000

> So you move the power from two American companies (Visa and Mastercard) to two American companies (Apple and Google)? What's that supposed to solve?

Unsure what you mean, but for context I use an app developed by a consortium of local banks and it works by scanning a QR code. Indeed, I use an Android phone but my next one will be a de-googled one like a Fairphone with /e/OS. Hopefully the same app will work there...

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:46:41 +0000

MS advantage over Google docs was exactly what US cloud providers have over everyone else: lock-in.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:11:20 +0000

We went with Hetzner as we already had good experiences with their VPSes. For this particular db migration, a resonably sized VPS with volumes does the job for us. We don't have planet scale operations so the lowish IOPS is not an issue atm. Also, with this experience at hand, I am confident that we'll manage another migration if need be.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:08:41 +0000

Maybe we don't need that kind of money for things like office software, email, reasonable sized databases, VPS etc.

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:03:27 +0000

Best would be to research a local one where you live. Support your community while you're at it!

New comment by 202508042147 in "Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native"

202508042147 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:02:24 +0000

I would also add lack of technical competence at C level. In my previous job, I have dealt with quite a few European CEOs whos only background was an MBA. Unlike the US where a lot of CEOs have a deep technical background...