Is Europe Really Dumping Visa and Mastercard?

YouTube is full of videos right now that say Europe DUMPS Visa and Mastercard. Caps included. One of them adds “5 Giants FORMALLY UNITE, US Kill Switch DEAD.”

In May, I wrote that Europe is ditching Visa and Mastercard. And that it’s a huge step.

So, let’s look at what changed since then. And what didn’t.

Update: I also looked at whether you can ditch them today.

(Not a Medium member? You can read this on Substack too.)

European Network for Payments

On September 30, five European payment systems founded a joint company: Wero, Bizum from Spain, Bancomat from Italy, MB Way from Portugal, and Vipps MobilePay from the Nordics. It’s called European Network for Payments, it sits in Madrid, and all five own an equal share.

Together they reach about 130 million users in 13 countries. That’s over 70 percent of the population of the EU and Norway.

That’s where the “five giants” in the video titles come from.

The new company will run a hub that connects the five apps. The first phase is sending money between people across borders. A Spanish Bizum user pays back a German Wero user, for example. Online…