Did you know that practically every character on every show since the advent of television in the 1950s used cash money until Star Trek arrived in the 1960s, where characters carried no cash and paid with credits?
A Chip Card is the latest configuration of ATM, debit, and credit cards, containing both the traditional magnetic strip, as well as a microchip for an additional layer of encryption security. Chip technology is in use now in over 130 different countries. The chip technology is a direct security response to the proliferation of credit card fraud obtained from credit card readers retaining code numbers and PINs for creating copies on blank magnetic strip cards...or for the even more outdated carbon copy impression machines. While the magnetic strip can still be used with older machines, use of a chip-enabled reader for Point of Sale purchases and at ATM terminals significantly reduces the incidence of fraud and card counterfeiting.
The DEA, IRS, and countless other government agencies who forensically track money electronically have Gene Roddenberry to thank for cash recently estimated now to be used in barely 12% of all current transactions.
