Well that seems...redundant. I can see why it never really caught on, lol.
It's not redundant. If we didn't had these smart cards. We wouldn't had this hacking issue would not be big as an problem.
"U.S. banks rely on credit cards with magnetic strips, which can be easily reproduced by thieves, while European banks have issued millions of more modern "smart cards" that are embedded with computer chips. Smart cards encrypt transaction information, require thieves to know the cardholder’s PIN, and can generate one-time-only passwords.
Smart cards would not eliminate credit card fraud entirely. The technology can stop criminals from using stolen credit cards in checkout lines, but it would not prevent thieves from using cards online, where people type their credit card numbers to make purchases.
But if U.S. banks issued smart cards, "you would stamp out counterfeit cards," said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report, a credit card industry trade publication.
“Anyone can make a counterfeit magnetic strip card, but a chip is far different,” Robertson said. “You’re not going to have crooks making chips.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/target-data-breach_n_4493569.html