Americans may soon be carrying “smart” or EMV cards in their wallets, according to “Get Smart: 7 things you need to know about EMV,” an article by Jay Morris that appears in the latest issue of The Federal Credit Union magazine. The new credit cards have a computer chip embedded in them that takes the place of the magnetic stripe that has been in use for decades.

The EMV chip (named for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the three big card networks that are pushing for adoption of the new standard) brings with it the added benefits of greater fraud protection, including the use of cryptography. [Read more…]