Yep. This wasn't just an elimination for merchants to need to collect signatures - it also was an elimination of the need for US based issuers to issue cards with signature panels on them. All of the networks eliminated the need for merchants to collect signatures in April 2018; Mastercard eliminated the need for issuers to put the signature panel on cards globally starting April 2019.

This article claims that Visa didn't make the signature panel optional for US issuers until March 20, 2025; however, I had cards issued or replaced in 2024 that lacked a signature panel on the new physical card (US Bank Altitude Reserve, Altitude Go, Citi Costco Visa), so either the article is wrong on the date or Visa started giving issuer/product specific waivers on removing the signature panel earlier than that.

There's also no rule that a bank cannot put the signature panel on new cards. So phasing out of the signature panel is likely to occur when banks choose to redesign cards, and then run out of all the existing card stock.

Matching signatures is silly. Store clerks are not handwriting experts... and especially in the digital age, many schools don't even teach cursive anymore, and many people do not have a reliable consistent signature. Merchants ask for it as a security blanket but it's not needed.