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#9 on the leaderboard Hardware Self-custody

Tangem Wallet

Tangem

A credit-card hardware wallet with no seed phrase. Lose one card, your other two still sign.

The verdict

The most user-friendly hardware wallet ever made. The trade-off is real: no seed phrase, no portability. If you can keep two of three cards safe, it's a delight.

/ Pros
  • +No seed phrase to lose or photograph — keys are generated on the chip and cloned to each card
  • +EAL6+ secure element, same family as banking cards and passports
  • +Cheapest real hardware wallet on the market
  • +IP69K-rated — survives being submerged, bent, and generally abused
/ Cons
  • No seed phrase means no portability: if you lose ALL your cards, you lose your funds. No way around it.
  • Closed-source firmware and the app is partially open. Less auditable than Trezor.
  • No desktop client — strictly mobile + NFC
  • Smaller dApp ecosystem; mostly a holding wallet, not a DeFi tool
/ Best for & not for
Best for

Long-term holders who want a "give to my parents" wallet, with no seed phrase to lose.

Not for

Active DeFi users, anyone who needs to recover funds on a new device from a seed.

/ Trust score breakdown

How the 69 breaks down.

We score five dimensions and weight them. The full methodology is public. If you think recovery should weigh more than security, you can re-run the math.

/ Security model
29 / 35 weighted
Raw
82

EAL6+ secure element is among the strongest in the category. Closed firmware reduces trust.

/ Transparency
14 / 20 weighted
Raw
70

Audited by Kudelski Security. Firmware is closed. App is partially open.

/ Recovery & custody
9 / 15 weighted
Raw
60

Key cloning replaces the seed model. If you lose all cards, you lose your funds.

/ Open code & audits
11 / 20 weighted
Raw
55

App is partially open. Chip firmware is not. No reproducible builds published.

/ Support & ecosystem
7 / 10 weighted
Raw
65

Solid documentation, mobile-first. Limited DeFi integrations.

Supported chains
BitcoinEthereumMulti-chain
Platforms
NFCiOSAndroid
Recovery options
  • · No seed — keys cloned across cards (2 or 3 cards)
Capabilities
NFT support Yes
Staking Yes
DeFi swap No
Hardware signing Yes
Audited Yes
Bug bounty Yes
/ Similar wallets

Other hardware wallets worth considering.

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