Tangem

Is Tangem safe?

The card itself is a strong place to keep a key, but the rest of the setup asks for more trust than a screen-based hardware walletHardware walletA small dedicated device that stores crypto private keys offline and signs transactions inside the device, so the keys never touch your computer.More in the glossary. A Tangem card generates your private key inside a certified secure chip and signs transactions there, so in its default mode the key never touches your phone. We found no loss traced to the cards since they launched in 2018. We score Tangem 78/100, a B, level with Ledger and below Trezor at 83.

Three things hold it back: the card has no screen, the firmware is closed, and in December 2024 a bug in the phone app wrote private keys of some seed-phrase users into logs that reached support.

How Tangem stores and backs up your key

Each card holds a Samsung S3D350A secure element, which Tangem says is certified to Common Criteria EAL6+, a standard it compares to biometric passports and payment cards. The key is generated on the chip when you activate it. You protect the card with an access code of at least six characters, and the chip slows down guessing after failed attempts.

The default backup is unusual. Instead of a seed phraseSeed phraseA list of 12 to 24 words that can restore a crypto wallet and all its funds. Anyone who has it controls the wallet.More in the glossary, Tangem copies the key to a second and optionally third card during setup, and any card can sign. Keep them in different places and you are covered against loss or theft of one. The price is lock-in: there is no seed to write down, so you can only restore with Tangem cards and Tangem's app.

You can choose a seed phrase instead, and a passphrase is supported when you import one. That makes the wallet portable to other software, but the phrase is generated in the phone app and then loaded onto the cards, so it has existed on an internet-connected device.

Our rubric reserves 90+ for keys that never leave a dedicated device and come with a standard exportable seed. Tangem offers one or the other, not both, so key management scores 85, three points below Ledger.

Tangem Mobile and Tangem Pay are different products

The Tangem app no longer needs a card. Tangem Mobile Wallet is a software wallet: the keys live in your phone's secure storage, and since September 2026 you can back it up to iCloud or Google Drive, encrypted with a password you choose. That is a hot walletHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary like Trust Wallet, and under our rubric its key security could score at most 84. This page scores the card. If you set up the app without a card, you do not get the secure chip, so add one before you keep large sums there.

Tangem Pay is a Visa card with its own payment account that needs identity checks. Since August 2026 it can be topped up from a US bank by ACH or FedWire, with dollars converted to USDC in that account. Money there is separate from the coins on your Tangem card and is not covered by this score.

The 2024 logging bug

At the end of December 2024 Tangem fixed a bug in a new NFC logging feature. When a wallet was activated with a seed phraseSeed phraseA list of 12 to 24 words that can restore a crypto wallet and all its funds. Anyone who has it controls the wallet.More in the glossary, generated or imported, the private key was written into the app's logs, and those logs were attached when a user emailed support from the app. Only users who did both, within the 7 days logs were kept, were exposed. Tangem put that at under 0.1% of users, said no keys were compromised and no funds lost, deleted all support logs and told affected users to move their funds and set up the card again. Seedless users were not affected because their keys never exist in the app.

It was the app, not the card, and it was handled fast. It still shows how a seed phrase becomes the weak link once it has touched a phone. Security record scores 80.

No screen: what you are trusting when you sign

A Ledger or Trezor shows the receiving address and amount on its own display, which malware on your computer cannot change. Tangem has no display. WalletScrutiny notes it cannot confirm a transaction independently of the companion app. If your phone is compromised, the card will sign whatever the app sends it.

Tangem's app does some of the checking instead. It verifies the card's authenticity on each tap, which guards against counterfeit cards, and its published code includes Blockaid scanning of dApps and transaction simulation for WalletConnect requests. That helps, but it runs on the same phone an attacker would target. Scam protection scores 65.

Can you check the code?

Partly. The card firmware is closed and fixed at the factory, so it cannot be backdoored by an update but also cannot be patched. Kudelski Security reviewed the card code in 2018, Riscure the hardware and firmware in December 2023, and Cure53 the phone app in March 2026. The app's source is public on GitHub, but under a proprietary licence that allows personal auditing, not open source. Transparency scores 70, the same as Ledger, whose secure-element firmware is also closed.

How to use Tangem safely

1. Buy from tangem.com or an authorised reseller and let the app check each card on first tap.
2. Use a long access code, not a date or 123456.
3. If you go seedless, store the backup cards in separate places, away from your main card.
4. If you choose a seed phraseSeed phraseA list of 12 to 24 words that can restore a crypto wallet and all its funds. Anyone who has it controls the wallet.More in the glossary, write it on paper or metal and never photograph it or type it anywhere else.
5. Keep your phone updated and check addresses carefully in the app, since the card cannot show them.

How we scored it

Key management (85) and company record (85) are Tangem's strengths: keys kept in a certified chip, and a Swiss company with a clean data record. Scam protection (65) is the weakest factor because the card has no screen, and transparency (70) reflects closed firmware offset by published audits. The 2024 logging bug keeps the security record at 80. If you want on-device confirmation, Trezor or Ledger fit better; if you want a simple card you can split between locations, Tangem does that well.