Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun

Re:Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun by AdamN on Wednesday February 11, 2026 @05:35AM (#46973330)

Cards are really slow and expensive to distribute and (tech forward) people would also prefer to just use their phone or watch. This is the kind or project that will take years to work and almost everybody now has a smartphone on one of those two operating systems in their pocket every time they leave the house.

Cards will have a slow demise over the next 10 years but it's coming whether we like it or not.

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Re:Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun by KronisLV on Wednesday February 11, 2026 @05:45AM (#46973397)

Support both?

Like to log into e-banking services over here we either have phone apps, or a code calculator device that can be used instead of those: https://www.seb.lv/en/private/daily-banking/tools-and-online...

Seems like common sense to me, the same how I have a wallet on my phone but still carry cards for payments just in case.

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Re:Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun by severino on Wednesday February 11, 2026 @08:50AM (#46974946)

Well, at least in Spain cards typically take between 3 or 5 days to get to you via post mail when you first open your account in a bank, and when it's about to expire, from time to time, you get the new one weeks in advance.

So I don't think distribution is a problem. Of course companies would prefer to save the cost, and they also prefer that you use their applications, but I just don't think it's more convenient for the end user. Taking a card with you is not a big deal while having to use a mobile application or approved device limits your freedom to choose which smartphone you want to use or how to use it.

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