InstaSEPA, European Payments

InstaSEPA (@ instasepa.eu) 

I've posted a lot about the digital euro, European payment methods, and their related challenges. 

This might be a lighter alternative to the digital euro in many cases, though it could be slightly slower, lacks offline support, and would require some API development and tech stack updates (vIBAN). EPC QR (EPC069-12) already exists, yet not all banks (for example, here in Finland) support it. 

Under this setup, the POS terminal could generate an SRTP (ISO 20022 pain.013 & pain.014), and the banking app could handle it directly, just like any other payment confirmation. The payment itself would settle using SCT Inst from bank account to bank account using IBAN identifiers. 

With potential vIBAN support, privacy would be solid because all customer identifiers stay inside PSD2 requirements and the bank's own systems. Having an NFC option would make transactions faster and easier than QR codes, though it would require extra updates to support it. 

I personally find developments like this highly positive. It remains confusing how heavily the EU relies on American payment cards (Visa, Mastercard). I also highly dislike when a "new" payment solution is introduced, only for its backend to be the standard Visa or Mastercard infrastructure. It is just utilizing the same system through different means.

kw: instaSEPA, SEPA, DigitalEuro, FintechEU, PaymentSovereignty

2026-10-04