@witcher@digitalcourage.social
Post #1385732
2026-02-11 05:29 UTC
@whynothugo I'm with you on this. It's great something like Wero is in the works to replace the dependency on US services in the payment area, but there's so much missed potential here: No phone number required, payments without Android/iOS.
It essentially consists of sending money and approving transactions through your bank. Both could have been done with the same effectiveness if usernames were used instead of phone numbers, and banks allowed approving transactions through other means than mobile apps. The way it is now completely unnecessarily fully binds the service to a smartphone running Android or iOS.
But I guess it is a slight improvement over Visa/MasterCard and PayPal as transactions go through european banks and fees aren't paid out to US companies.
Replies (1)
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@whynothugo@fosstodon.org 2026-02-11 09:41
@witcher To be clear: this isn't _replacing_ US services in the payment area, it's just changing which ones we rely on. From Visa+Mastercard to iOS+Android. I don't find this to be an improvement. Someone can use Maestro card (the usual in NL) without having to buy a device from Google/Apple. This just serves to erode the influence of phone vendors done outside the US.