It is homegrown. The Dankort was a government initiative originally built and paid for by a consortium of banks back in the 80s. The theory was that the savings

It is homegrown. The Dankort was a government initiative originally built and paid for by a consortium of banks back in the 80s. The theory was that the savings for the banks from having a more efficient alternative to cash would pay for the development costs, which is exactly how it turned out. But then the banks forgot that what they spent on payment processing they made back elsewhere and wanted it to pay for itself, and started cutting costs. Finally last year they sold the whole thing off to the US. In addition, the dankort is strictly regulated to the benefit of consumers which the banks dislike because it limits how much they can charge when you use it. They have an interest in pushing people to visa or mastercard or their own mobile payment solutions which don't have the same restrictions. The payment processor itself is developing their own alternative to compete with the dankort which they are mandated to also implement. I don't think they provide bad dankort service on purpose but it's a concern that good service is actually against their own economic interest.