Mastercard is set to ditch the magnetic strip in all its cards by 2033. The company says that this will make cards more secure and easier to use. Mastercard’s decision comes as banks and other companies are moving away from traditional plastic cards in favor of electronic payments. Mastercard says that it will phase out the magnetic strip over a period of five years, starting with cards issued in Europe and Asia next year. The move is likely to anger consumers who are used to using plastic cards for everything from shopping to paying bills. But Mastercard says that it is making the switch because it believes that electronic payments are more secure. Cards with a magnetic strip can be hacked by thieves, for example, while an electronic payment system like Apple Pay is not susceptible to such attacks. Mastercard’s decision has been met with mixed reactions online. Some people argue that they will miss the feel of a physical card, while others say that they are happy to see companies moving towards more secure methods of payment. ..
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Magnetic stripes rose to prominence in the 1960s, so they had a long run as the primary method of processing debit and credit cards. They’re certainly better than the old imprinting credit card processing method, but they’re not as secure as chips.
Mastercard announced that the transition would start in 2024. At this time, the stripe will no longer be required on new cards in select regions like Europe, where chip and contactless cards are already widely accepted.
In the US, the transition will start in 2027, as chip adoption has been a little slower in the United States.
The big step happens in 2029 when no new Mastercard cards will come with a magnetic stripe at all. By 2033, Mastercard plans to have no more magnetic stripes out in the wild.
It’ll be interesting to see if Visa, Discover, and American Express follow Mastercard’s lead and announce moves away from magnetic stripes. It seems like most stores prefer to process chips over magnetic stripes nowadays. Many gas pumps are upgrading to chip readers instead of magnetic stripe readers, so this is just the natural progression.
By 2033, we could even see another form of credit card processing rise to the top. Contactless payments will undoubtedly keep growing, as many people jumped on them during the pandemic, but who knows what other methods will pop up over the next 10 to 12 years when this fully takes effect.
