The EU Seeks to Break Its Dependence on Visa, Mastercard Rails

Not a second too soon

I work in fintech, and the way VISA and Mastercard (and Amex to a certain degree) just skim every transaction, along with the payment gateways, is disgusting. Online payments should be a national utility or supra-national entity, not-for-profit.

Forgive me as my American-ness is blinding with this question, but what payment types would be the alternatives? Obvioudly cash/physical currency is one, but considering so much of Europe is cashless, I'm very interested to learn what card networks are popular overseas.