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by notpushkin 325 days ago
> AFAIK some places already have it, like Thailand and Malaysia.

Also Vietnam (Napas247), Singapore (PayNow), Philippines (QR Ph), Japan (lots different systems), China (WeChat/Alipay, I think?), Russia (SBP), Belarus (ERIP, in a sense), and the whole of EU (SEPA transfers).

One problem is, most of them don’t really work for you if you’re a foreigner. Moreta (YC S24) is doing something in SEA, and I’ve seen another service for visitors in India, but I think exchange rates wouldn’t be too good (compared to something like Wise, maybe on par with regular banks though).

https://moretapay.com/, https://ale.sh/r/moreta (affiliate link)

https://wise.com/, https://ale.sh/r/wise (affiliate link)
2 comments
norman784 325 days ago
The EU is also now pushing WERO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment)

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throwaway473825 325 days ago
That's a commercial service backed by some European banks. It's not at all comparable with a non-profit service like Brazil's Pix.

The closest EU equivalent would probably be the planned digital euro, but the banks are fighting tooth and nail to prevent that.

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ta12653421 325 days ago
Not only that - ECB, EU Comission / Council also supporting it.

Though, most of the shares belong to major EU banks, yes.

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Cthulhu_ 325 days ago
Isn't that (and its predecessor iDEAL) basically a layer on top of SEPA transfers though? (not that that's a bad thing)
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sofixa 325 days ago
Kind of, but with easier UX - because a SEPA transfer, which is free and instantaneous, still requires the sharing of a bank account number, while Wero works with QR codes, phone numbers, etc. They're also planning to expand it to NFC payments and online payments.
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notpushkin 325 days ago
You can make a QR code for SEPA transfers: https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/document-library/guid...

(One of many generators you can try: https://qrcode.tec-it.com/en/SEPA)

Doesn’t seem to be supported too widely though :(

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Doxin 320 days ago
Oh that's neat. FWIW the camera on my android phone doesn't understand that QR code, but my banking app does.
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yawaramin 325 days ago
India has UPI (Universal Payment Interface) for instant free transfers. They are working with Singapore to integrate their payment systems so that people will be able to send remittances instantly across the countries.
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notpushkin 325 days ago
Yeah, and some of SEA payment modes already do cross-accept each other actually.
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