While it’s true the complete transition away from mag-stripe transactions will take a while, Qvivr is far downplaying the significance of EMV (which is named after its backers Europay, MasterCard and Visa). In Europe and other regions of world EMV transactions using chip-and-PIN and chip-and-signature methods are already standard. In the U.S., banks are issuing new chipped cards this year and many merchants – from big box retailers to Square sellers — are upgrading their point-of-sale gear to support the more secure payments they promise