I think that only applies to the US. My credit card has a PIN. You don't need it for contactless payments but they are limited to €30.

Chip cards in most places in the world require a PIN. It's only the US where (I've ever seen) chip-and-signature (which is a horrible and flawed implementation).

Australia: Tap for anything under $100, no PIN, choose whether or not you want a receipt, done.

In Germany credit cards are very uncommon. We use debit cards, many places don't accept credit cards (but debit cards), some places accept only cash. Paying with a credit card also has a fee while paying by cash or debit cards is free.

In India all credit card transactions need a PIN after the card is swiped.

America has much higher "rewards" than anywhere else. The reward money comes straight out of merchant fees.

The merchant fees do fund a substantial portion of the rewards programs for cards.

However, there's a pretty large market for credit/debit card transaction data. Even Google purchases it[1]. Both your credit card company and the payment processors/networks themselves are able to monetize this data quite effectively. And the more complete people's transaction histories get the more effective this data becomes for different uses and the more the companies can charge for it.

Depending on the demographic a particular card is able to capture, the transaction history may be valuable enough to run the rewards program at a loss or break even when looked at purely from the merchant fees recouped.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23...

Exactly. I'll continue to use my card whenever possible to save at least 2% on every transaction. But this comes at the cost of getting my CC data stolen from shitty POSs 1-2 times a year. Small inconvenience, but worth it.