I'd bet that there are more mastercard users who haven't even heard about Steam or Valve than there's users on Steam. And MC with others are using their massive leverage right now, what you're going to switch to?

Also 3 times bigger is definetly something. It's like asking what's the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars (answer is about billion dollars). Not quite, but effectively the same. And payment processors have the power to practically stop all money transfers to Valve (which they are threatening with already). Microsoft or Apple might have cash to fight that, Valve most definetly could not sustain legal fight with them if absolute majority of their income is cut off.

I have been exploring ways to pay for things anonymously... in Canada and the US they do have prepaid credit cards (rhat are sadly visa or Mastercard based) that can be paid for in cash and activated without the need for a name or anything. Meaning unless you activated it on your phone or clearnet without a VPN it will be difficult to link it to you directly. Doubly so if you wait long enough for the store's surveillance footage to be cycled through (few places keep security camera footage in perpetuity, many delete stuff from a few months back or a year or so back unless something suspicious happened, meaning the footage of you buying the thing will be gone.)

So that's one trick to be able to pay for something with a credit card without it being immediately obvious who you are. Much like paying in cash, another thing i am getting back into.

Unfortunately rich and developed countries with an iron grip on the markets by a few billionaires that control them you see. They ensure our options are limited.

Canadians have very limited choices in terms of services. Even our grocery store shelves are bought out by major corps and local options struggle to get their products on the shelves.

As another example, our banks have no interpayment systems outside the interac system, and they have no standard apis for payment services. So things like apps for managing budgets involve downloading a csv after our billing date passes and a lot of manual work. Most banks offer their own budget apps and they only work with their services.

We have effectively have 3 phone and internet providers.. or little guys that resell access to the big 3.

The monopoly man won the game in Canada.

Hmm yeah, personally I don't mind them having access to my transactions or doing things anonymously. Using your bankcard with chip to pay is already obfuscated in most situations on the receiving end since a lot of cash registers will group the transactions together and way out once.

Even platforms like Mollie sometimes obfuscate transactions, which annoys me, considering I have worked as a bookkeeper and now an accountant.

Because of my job, I don't want people to get the feeling I do shit wrong (illegal or otherwise) since that can cause me to lose my licence. So I want to be transparent for that and for my own administration.

At the same time cash is disappearing here in NL and in some countries cash transactions above 3k are already banned (BE f.e.).
I also buy a fair amount by buying gift cards, and I order online a lot.

Ow and btw Mullvad can be both by sending them an envelope with cash

Hmm, in the US, people have at least Simplefin to connect their banks to Actual Budget f.e.

Man it sucks to live in Canada as well it seems, probably the best thing you can do is buy local as much as possibile and if they still accept cash use that.

That is how I do it yes. As much as feasibly possible. I do really miss the local PC shops and electronics stores.. sadly my options for that stuff now are Staples, Best Buy and Amazon...

Ow and btw Mullvad can be both by sending them an envelope with cash

I am afraid I don't understand. You can buy credit cards by mailing cash to Mullvad?

Using your bankcard with chip to pay is already obfuscated in most situations on the receiving end since a lot of cash registers will group the transactions together and way out once.

I actually rarely pay for things with my bank card. I usually buy with credit card and that will always leave a trace. But it is good to know that.

The whole no cash purchase over 3K or 10K is honestly crap. They did that in Quebec last year and are going to do that throughout Canada. I never paid for anything with that much cash, but I still find it shit.

Sorry Mullvad is a VPN company, just in case you need that.

I always buy things with a normal bank card, why would I use a credit card on a daily basis? You will have less grip on your finances, they aren't accepted everywhere, cost more than a bank account which you still need anyway, they are at a greater risk of getting abused and in most countries using them can only ruin your credit score.

The whole no cash purchase over 3K or 10K is honestly crap. They did that in Quebec last year and are going to do that throughout Canada. I never paid for anything with that much cash, but I still find it shit.

That's the thing, any normal working human being will basically never come in a situation where this happens, and if they do, it is generally a simple explanation.

I understand privacy minded people don't really like this, but it does help find criminals.
That's also a bit of an issue since high levels of privacy also mean that criminals basically have fair game since catching them will be harder.

Large cash payments may be needed in places and during times where non-cash are difficult or impossible. I have family who live in countries where having bank transfers would be cumbersome and are riddled with corruption, so I bring them cash. I once did get 9,500$ in cash (below the 10K limit) and they were paying for repairs for their home and the workers could only accept cash. Having a digital platform would have made all this impossible.

Well that is generally not an issue it is more the receiving end they check. If you take it from your bank there is a non issue besides maybe at a border.

And most completely corrupt countries don’t care either way

No it’s incredibly idiotic to do otherwise.

You don’t fight a fire while the arsonist is still setting it on fire.

Most of them are charities and probably don’t know they’re supporting transphobia.

Except they're not fighting the fire here, they're taking away the arsonist's flamethrowser so he can't continue making the fire. Without that flamethrower, the arsonist can't do shit.

Fighting the fire would be petitioning Steam, but the target is the payment processors that pressured Steam on request of Collective Shout.

Fighting the fire happens after stopping the person lighting the fire. Focus on the immediate threat, don’t get distracted by the lofty long term.