What Are “Smart” Credit Cards, and Why Are They Coming to America?

Starting late next year, every credit card in the United States will adopt a more secure system.

Andrew Tarantola explains what it is, and how it works in this Gizmodo article:

What Are “Smart” Credit Cards, and Why Are They Coming to America?

What does it mean for you, the merchant?

Both MasterCard and Visa have set an October 2015 deadline to roll out the new EMV “smart cards” technology in America. Once the deadline passed, if a merchant is still using the old system with a swipe and a signature, they will be liable for any fraudulent transactions if the customer has a chip card. On the other hand, if the merchant uses the new system, but the customer is still using the old card, then the customer’s bank will bear the liability instead.