As near as I can tell it is a useless complication that “enhances” nothing over the standard magnetic strip. Except that now I have to keep such cards in a pocket “Faraday cage” to keep them from being “read” remotely.
That would be “Tap” (i.e. NFC) technology. The chip itself is only readable through the physical contacts on the chip.
As far as the Tap/NFC stuff goes, my credit card company will disable that functionality for my credit card if requested (in fact, I may have had to specifically request it to be enabled in the first place). I imagine yours would do the same, if you’re worried about it. Although on a credit card any fraud is mostly the card issuer’s problem, not yours.