The end of an era for credit and debit cards

If you prefer to pay in stores by swiping the magnetic strip of your bank card through the machine, you will probably have to find a new way to pay pretty soon. One of the main producers of credit and debit cards, Mastercard, is planning to completely stop adding magnetic strips to their cards in the next 10 years. According to the company, the main reason for this is the fact that magnetic strips were added to cards as the first prototype of a faster way to pay. Now, there are the much more secure contactless payments through a microchip, which are harder to abuse or tamper with. Thus, the company views the swiping of a card as an obsolete type of payment. Consequently, the company plans to slowly stop using magnetic strips from 2024, and completely halt the production of cards with them by 2029. The first market on which they are planning to roll out this change is the European market, which also includes the Czech republic. Since more and more people have started paying with cards, especially as stores preferred contactless payments during the pandemic, an evolution of this payment device will likely be a welcome addition.

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