Chip and PIN
Auth & security
A card-present authentication method requiring the cardholder to enter a PIN against the chip on the card. Chip-and-PIN authentication shifts liability for lost-and-stolen card fraud to the issuer when correctly performed. The European default for in-person transactions; less common in the US (where chip-and-signature was historically more typical).
In practice.
Chip and PIN moved counterfeit card liability onto whichever party has the weaker technology, which effectively ended magstripe fraud in markets that adopted it. For merchants it is relevant mainly in card-present retail, where a compliant terminal protects you from counterfeit liability.
Related terms: EMV · Liability shift · Card-Present
Auth & security