MasterCard opens EMV tech to US debit networks, hopes to spur adoption

After almost sixteen years of trying to encourage EMV adoption in the US, MasterCard has hit upon a potential reason why it's not catching on: its closed, proprietary standard. But that's changing today, with the financial giant announcing it's making some of its circuit card tech open to other US debit networks instead of waiting on them to come up with their own solution.
An alternative to magnetic strips, EMV claims to provide more secure payments thanks to the use of cryptographic algorithms and user-specific PINs, but hasn't captured much interest outside of Europe and Asia. Perhaps in opening the standard, MasterCard and crew will spur its adoption stateside and thus garner more EMV followers. Of course, it has to catch on before NFC replaces cards entirely, rendering the issue moot.