We are starting to see an evolution from typical static magnetic stripes cards to more intelligent devices such as EMV chip cards and NFC mobile phones.

FORBES: EMV Chip Technology, Secure Electronic Payments

In recent years, this "EMV" chip technology has become the global standard for credit cards, but the United States has been slow to adopt it.

BBC: Microchip technology added to two US credit cards

Missing from the often-cited standards are specific references to many technologies that the security industry has long been pushing card companies to adopt: EMV (Chip and PIN), End-to-End (E2E) encryption, tokenization and virtualization.

FORBES: Payment Card Industry Punts On Key Security Questions

Visa is paving the way to increase the security of mobile payments by quickening the migration to EMV contact and contactless chip technology in the US. The EMV technology will speed up adoption of mobile payments.

FORBES: EMV Chip Technology, Secure Electronic Payments

Since then, most European nations as well as Japan and Canada have adopted this so-called EMV international credit card standard and abandoned magnetic stripe credit cards for chip-and-pin cards in the process.

FORBES: Have We Seen The Last Of Credit Cards As We Know Them?