Visa Inc. said Wednesday that financial institutions have been issuing 5,000 credit cards with embedded EMV chips per day since 2011 and there are 3.5 million of the cards being used nationwide.

EMV chips are computer chips programmed in accord with a standard developed by EuroCard, MasterCard and Visa. The cards sharply reduce counterfeit card fraud by generating a unique code with each transaction, rendering stolen payment information useless at the point of sale.

Credit unions have been among the first issuers of the cards, primarily to members who travel often overseas where the EMV standard has become the norm.  

“We’re very pleased with the progress the U.S. has made over the past two years,” the card brand said in a prepared statement about the milestone. “With each new card, the U.S. payments ecosystem gets one step closer to achieving the improved security that EMV technology affords to consumers, merchants and issuers.

Clifford Cook, chief marketing officer for U.S. Bank Retail Payment Solutions, said, “EMV is a secure and trusted technology that is in use globally. We’re excited to offer chip technology to our cardholders, adding not only an additional layer of protection to transactions, but extra convenience when traveling abroad.”

Visa expressed optimism about the cards even though some financial institutions and retailers have doubted their profitablity and utility.