Mastercard is starting to give up the magnetic strips on credit and debit cards it issues, the company said. Their removal will be gradual and should be completed by 2033. Mastercard will be the first in the industry to abandon the technology, which dates back to the 60s of last century.
In regions such as Europe, where chip cards are widely used, the removal of magnetic strips will begin in 2024. In the United States, where their spread is slower, it will begin in 2027. From 2029, no new debit or credit card Mastercard will not have outdated technology, which means that by 2033 it will disappear completely.
Magnetic tapes were revolutionary for their time, but in the 1990s they were replaced by EMV chips, which are now used in 86% of transactions. Usually, they use PIN for identification, but recently also biometric data.
Mastercard points out that contactless payments became even more popular during the pandemic, and in the first three months of the year, 1 billion more payments were made using this method. Worldwide, 45% of transactions in the second quarter of 2021 were contactless.
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