if it can help to decrease the influence of middlemen, thats likely going to happen. but im sceptic about it.

the problem with digital euro, and other digital currencies, are the "small letters", and who is actually behind them. many seem to want to replace physical money with digital, which is a terrible idea, since it can easily become a stepping stone for bs like the cbdc and tools to push social credit score globally.

imo, the safest option, and the most respectful of individual privacy is only physical money, so steam and valve should figure out how to improve their own way to process payments (ie improving their own prepaid steam cards; maybe even make their own "steam debit card")

What do you mean by small letters?

The digital Euro is directly handled by the European Central Bank. It's an independent institution as much as it gets, and since they issue the physicsl Euro too, that's the least middleman you get.

Physical cards still have payment processors involved as Steam needs to get the cash from retailers. This could be even worse than other digital payments.

A steam issued card I am not sure how it would help. You want to get money into your steam account mostly, not out of it. But an own bank might be worth consideration, given Steam's recent quarrels with financial institutions. That would enable direct transfers to your steam account.

Oprindeligt skrevet af moira.lachesis:

What do you mean by small letters?

The digital Euro is directly handled by the European Central Bank.

ok, tell me the purpose and objective of central banks. how they operate, and who are behind this one in particular.

are you aware of the background of the people leading it? where "digital euro" actually comes from?

Oprindeligt skrevet af moira.lachesis:

It's an independent institution as much as it gets, and since they issue the physicsl Euro too, that's the least middleman you get.

independent, from whom?

who depends on them? who enforces their own policies and rules?

which rules and views central banks hold?

why local currencies have been gradually, and forcefully replaced with euro, rather than allowing both to remain as parallel systems?

Oprindeligt skrevet af moira.lachesis:

Physical cards still have payment processors involved as Steam needs to get the cash from retailers. This could be even worse than other digital payments.

not necessarily:
if you pay with "cash" (physical money) a prepaid steam card, there no bank that knows about that transaction, and only steam knows how much you spent when you use it to add money into your account. thats the least amount of extra steps between steam and money you can make.

of course, theres still a risk of third parties finding out what you do with your account, if its public, if you spend time writing in forums, or you use one email for everything (specially one from google, microsoft, or similar entities).

Oprindeligt skrevet af moira.lachesis:

A steam issued card I am not sure how it would help. You want to get money into your steam account mostly, not out of it.

steam would have some limitations if they could offer a debit card linked to their steam wallet system, but if they could remain more independent from third parties, that would be better as an additional option, than relying in other payment methods that do.

also, could allow adding specific and smaller amounts of money, than those in prepaid cards, so it could offer a better control of how much money you add and spend.

Oprindeligt skrevet af moira.lachesis:

But an own bank might be worth consideration, given Steam's recent quarrels with financial institutions. That would enable direct transfers to your steam account.

which are those financial institutions? who is above them? the bs visa-mastercard and paypal have been doing, usually starts with central banking bs. central banks are like a "big boss", and those "payment processors" are like "henchmen".

digital euro is a stepping stone for "cbdc", which is a stepping stone for normalising "social score systems" and related "social control and cultural hijacking" mechanisms.

until reasonable lawmakers and non-predatory (anti-marxist, libertarian) economists can figure out how to make a digital currency work without replacing physical money, and make it 100% private, they wil never be a good option for private business or people.