I used to implement smart card as Personal Identity Verification for Federal employees. It was required by a regulation driven by the post 9/11 Bush era called

I used to implement smart card as Personal Identity Verification for Federal employees. It was required by a regulation driven by the post 9/11 Bush era called HSPD-12 (Homeland Security Presidential Directive - 12). It was a real boon to the DC area technology consulting business. Timed well with stimulus in the post crash crisis as well. Lots of investment in this technology (reminiscent of the Secret History of Silicon Valley) and surprised it has taken this long to get to finance and other uses. I think one problem is smart cards were timed with the take off of mobile. They weren't very mobile friendly and seemed kind of redundant, but I prefer them to a fingerprint scanner on the iphone or galaxy. Excited to see where this goes.