Mastercard is phasing out manual card entry for a one-click online payments, according to a statement by the card payment giant today (Wednesday).

According to the company, while in-store transactions have become nearly effortless with contactless payments, online shoppers still type in their 16-digit card numbers, expiry dates, and security codes. Mastercard aims to change this as it expects online payments to shift to a one-click experience by eliminating manual card entry entirely by 2030.

From Carbon Copies to Digital Tokens

Credit cards have evolved significantly since their introduction in the 1950s, Mastercard explained. In the early days, clerks reportedly manually verified card numbers, and mechanical ‘zip-zap’ machines imprinted them on carbon paper receipts.

Later, magnetic stripes, chip cards, and contactless payments revolutionized the way people pay in stores. However, online transactions haven’t advanced at the same pace, leaving consumers to manually enter card details or store them with multiple merchants, increasing security risks.

Storing card details with multiple merchants has led to rising concerns over fraud. Cybercriminals frequently target merchant databases to steal consumer payment data.

A 2023 study estimated that online payment fraud losses will surpass $91 billion by 2028. To address this, Mastercard introduced tokenization, a system that replaces actual card numbers with randomly generated tokens.

Tokenization in Digital Payments

Mastercard first developed the tokenization standard in 2013, later adopted globally by EMVCo, the industry body for payment standards. According to the company, tokenization enhances security but also improves transaction approval rates and reduces fraud.

Today, more than 30% of Mastercard transactions globally are tokenized, with more digital tokens in circulation than physical cards. Tokenization is just the beginning.

Mastercard is now working with banks, fintechs, and merchants to introduce a universal one-click checkout button across all online platforms by 2030. The goal is to eliminate manual card entry entirely and make online payments as effortless as tapping a card in-store.

Mastercard embeds Click to Pay as an online checkout solution that removes the need to manually enter card details. Additionally, biometric authentication via passkeys will soon replace passwords and one-time passcodes, allowing users to authorize payments with fingerprint or facial recognition, just like unlocking a smartphone.