EMV (Chip Card)

PCIComplianceHub · Last updated 22 September 2026

The global standard for chip-based payment cards and the terminals that accept them, named after Europay, Mastercard and Visa. An EMV chip generates a unique cryptogram for every transaction, so intercepted data from one payment cannot be replayed as another. This makes counterfeit card fraud impractical at chip-accepting terminals and is why fraud migrated toward card-not-present channels as EMV rolled out. EMV does not by itself take a merchant out of PCI DSS scope: the primary account number is still present and still requires protection.