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The EU is also now pushing WERO

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

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.

Not only that - ECB, EU Comission / Council also supporting it.

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

Isn't that (and its predecessor iDEAL) basically a layer on top of SEPA transfers though? (not that that's a bad thing)

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.

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 :(

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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