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US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS

388 points · 396 comments · mywacaday

  1. guidoiaquinti · · focus · HN ↗
    Several International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have been unable to access their bank accounts or receive routine salary payments and financial transfers due to financial blockages triggered by United States sanctions. In the country where they live
    1. mhh__ · · focus · HN ↗
      Frankly I think this is a good bit of hormesis for European countries. It's critical that we have domestic payment infrastructure.
      1. busssard · · focus · HN ↗
        what would be an alternative currently? i know of services like twint but this is a local swiss solution. any more EU wide established solutions??
        1. alexgieg · · focus · HN ↗
          Cryptocurrencies in general are a good alternative. They're strictly unsanctionable and, depending on the currency selected, also untraceable, so secondary sanctions would be extremely difficult to apply with any kind of granularity. National-scale sanctions, evidently, would still be quite feasible.

          Alas, that kind of anonymity runs counter to the very soul of the European bureaucratic ethos. They absolutely want to know in detail where every single cent goes, plus the power to block transactions at will, so they're looking into some magic solution that allows them full purview and full control while perfectly denying the US and its spy apparatus the possibility to also see into it, an impossible combination of requirements.

          And I say all that as a fan of the EU. It's one of their many blind spots they need to overcome if they ever want to become a technological superpower.

          1. someonebaggy · · focus · HN ↗
            7 transactions per second
            1. nvme0n1p1 · · focus · HN ↗
              Yes, that was a pretty big dealbreaker... in 2011
              1. someonebaggy · · focus · HN ↗
                Still is one. I think visa processes more transactions now than in 2011.
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