Tap to Pay offers a safe and convenient way to perform transactions and is quickly becoming the preferred payment option for everyday purchases across a variety of segments. The value of contactless to merchants lies in a faster, more efficient checkout experience, and the time saved by offering contactless could result in shorter lines, fewer abandoned sales and happier consumers, who have now come to expect this seamless payment option in-store.

As acceptance and usage of contactless payments grows in the U.S., it is important to offer as secure an experience as possible to protect the payment ecosystem and to earn the trust of consumers. Globally, the EMV-based contactless technology has been used for many years and is considered best practice industry-wide. Similar to contact chip cards, EMV contactless supports cryptographic functions for more secure transactions than the magnetic stripe equivalent.

As announced in the 31 January 2019 edition of the Visa Business News, all terminals accepting contactless payments in the U.S. have been required to actively support the EMV-based contactless functionality, quick Visa Smart Debit / Credit (qVSDC), and disable the MSD contactless transaction path (POS Entry Mode 91) since 19 October 2019.

Migrating from legacy MSD contactless to the EMV-based contactless technology, qVSDC, is important to improving payment security and interoperability while delivering an improved customer experience. In support of this, Visa will assess a $0.10 fee, billed to acquirers, for each POS Entry Mode 91 (MSD) transaction beginning 1 April 2023.