[nolok]

That's exactly what's happening, see the EU digital euro scheme. It's planned to be free of fees too, modeled around how SEPA was done for wires.

There has been massive resistance by the incumbents of course, including banks (since they too charge a fee on top of visa).

It's been in the backlog for years but the US sanction against ICC judges leading to them being cut off from most things including payment triggered a renewal of it.

[202508042147]

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.

[bobthepanda]

It seems right now the European thinking is that the US might just do it regardless so may as well prepare.

[janpeuker]

The European Payments Initiative (Wero) made the mistake of only aiming for Peer-to-Peer QR code payments, carefully avoiding competing with cards so each country could keep their card schemes (Cartes Bancaires, Girocard etc). I don't think it will ever even _compete_ with cards in the near future.

[cassepipe]

From what I remember the bank started to federate around a payment network to outcompete the digital euro. I hope the digital euro wins, I hope they don't fumble it.