Kind of old but this is first I'm hearing about it.
Exclusive: Nordics and Estonia rolling out offline card payment back-up in case internet cut
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/nordics-estonia-plan-offline-card-payment-back-up-if-internet-cut-2025-05-07/
QuoteFinland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia are rolling out offline card payment systems to provide a back-up if internet connections are lost, including due to sabotage
(or conflict.)
I'm leaking an image of a prototype...
https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/ltwa8f/the_manual_credit_card_machine/
> prototype
Genius. It looks fraud-proof
Tough to use over the internet :) I am sure an IOU would be fine, worked in Ireland for a while.
>prototype
I worked at Waldenbooks once and that is what we used.
My mom got hacked because the gas station threw the carbon sheet in the trash and someone went through the trash, found her number and made some major order over the phone. Fortunately the amount triggered an alert and investigation showed the purchase was from a phone booth next to an isolated rural gas station.
This scam is now impossible because there are no more phone booths.
Yeah, we had an outage and everything went down. No credit cards, no option to pay for tolls on bridges etc. Caused a major problem and now we need to be able to process payments even when the net or provider goes down.
Adieu Visa et Mastercard : 130 millions d'Européens basculent vers un paiement 100 % souverain dès 2026 - Les Numériques
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/banque-en-ligne/adieu-visa-et-mastercard-130-millions-d-europeens-basculent-vers-un-paiement-100-souverain-des-2026-n250918.html
Goodbye Visa and Mastercard: 130 million Europeans switch to a 100% sovereign payment from 2026
The headline underplays what just happened I think.
130,000,000 didn't *switch* to anything. The disparate national systems they were *already* using, now just became usable in all 13 countries (or will be by 2027).
Last I was in Europe, these systems were a bit of a hassle. I could sign up for the Swiss system, but it was useless a couple km away in France.
I think there will be big network effects where right now a lot of people, especially merchants who cater to tourists, never saw the upside before. Now, hey, most of your customers have a compatible account.
Joining in 2029: Zelle?
The Netherlands just blocked a US company from buying the app Dutch citizens use for everything | TechSpot
(Not the app, title needs tweaking. It's the underlying infrastructure. Servers. Hosting)
https://www.techspot.com/news/112552-netherlands-blocked-us-company-buying-app-dutch-citizens.html
>no option to pay for tolls on bridges etc.
'Zero Credibility': Major Clipper Outage Caused by Cubic's Failure to Pay AT&T Bill | KQED
https://www.kqed.org/news/12085683
When you feel yourself overcome by imposter syndrome, just remember that out there somewhere is a major tech company about to go bankrupt because they didn't pay their AT&T bill.