Tangem Wallet: How the Card Crypto Wallet Works and How to Start

Tangem Wallet is a cold crypto wallet in the shape of a bank card. It keeps your private key on a secure chip and works with your smartphone over NFC: you tap the card to the phone, and the transfer is signed. Since 2018 Tangem has produced more than 6 million cards, and none of them has been hacked, according to the company.

Tangem is a SharPay partner, and readers of our blog get a discount with the promo code below. Below, we explain how the wallet works, what it costs and how to set it up in a few minutes. For the basics of offline storage, see our guide to what a cold wallet is.

Contents

How Tangem Wallet works

Inside each card sits a chip certified to EAL6+, developed with Samsung Semiconductors. Moreover, the chip generates the private key inside and never lets it out. Your phone only prepares the transfer, while the card signs it.

The card needs no battery or cable, because the phone’s NFC field powers it for the moment of the tap. As a result, there is nothing to charge.

A Tangem card tapped to a smartphone

Backup cards instead of a paper phrase

As a rule, Tangem comes as a set of two or three cards. During setup, the same wallet is written to every card in the set. If one card is lost, you simply keep using another one, so there are no words to write down and nothing to lose on paper.

Advanced users can still create a classic seed phrase as an extra backup. Either way, Tangem stays a self-custody wallet: only you control the key, unlike custodial services described in our overview of e-wallet types.

Tangem cards and Tangem Ring

ProductWhat is in the boxPrice
Tangem Wallet, 2 cards2 cards with one wallet$54.90
Tangem Wallet, 3 cards3 cards with one wallet$69.90
Tangem Ringring + 2 cards$160
Family Packtwo wallet sets$144.80

Prices are from the official store as of 10 November 2026, without taxes and shipping. The ring works the same way as the card, only you wear it on your finger and tap it to the phone.

Which set to choose? With two cards, you carry one and keep the other at home. A set of three is safer: the third card can stay in a second place, such as a safe deposit box or with relatives, so a fire or burglary at home does not cut you off from your coins.

Tangem card and ring with the Tangem app

What the Tangem app can do

The Tangem app is open source. It shows your balance across more than 90 networks and lets you send and receive coins. Through partner providers, it also lets you buy, sell and swap crypto and earn on some assets. Every transfer still needs a tap of your card, so the app alone cannot move your funds.

Built to last

  • Water. The card is rated IP69K: it is waterproof and pressure-resistant.
  • Temperature. It also works from –25 °C to 50 °C.
  • Warranty. Tangem gives a 25-year limited hardware warranty.
  • Audits. Kudelski Security and Riscure reviewed the firmware.

How Tangem protects your crypto

The private key exists only inside the chip and cannot be copied out of it. Even if your phone is infected, malware cannot sign a transfer without the physical card. That works because a transfer on the blockchain is valid only with a signature made by the key.

An optional access code adds a second lock. So a found card is useless to a stranger, and you keep using the other cards from your set.

Who Tangem suits

  • Beginners. There are no words to write down, and setup takes a few taps.
  • Long-term holders. No battery means the card can lie in a drawer for years.
  • Families. The Family Pack gives two independent wallets in one box.
  • Travellers. A card fits in any wallet and does not look like a crypto device.

Where to buy Tangem

Tangem sells through its official website and through retailers in many countries, including Best Buy Marketplace and Walmart online in the USA, MediaMarkt in Germany and Selfridges in the UK. However, only the official site lets you use our promo code below.

How to start with Tangem in five minutes

  1. Order the set on the official website using our partner link below.
  2. Install the Tangem app from the App Store or Google Play.
  3. Tap the first card to the phone and create a wallet.
  4. Tap the other cards to copy the same wallet to them.
  5. Set an access code, then send a small test amount.

The same habits apply to any wallet, as our guide on how to create a crypto wallet explains: test first, then move the main amount.

SharPay promo code for Tangem

Use our partner link to Tangem or enter the code YCZXER at checkout on tangem.com. As a result, you get 10% off a Tangem hardware wallet.

Promo code:

Tangem and SharPay together

Tangem keeps your savings offline, while SharPay helps you spend them. Send coins from Tangem to the SharPay crypto wallet, which supports USDC, BTC, ETH, DAI, LTC, XRP and TUSD.

A virtual card you can top up with crypto linked to that balance then pays like a regular Visa or Mastercard card, including Apple Pay and Google Pay.

To move the money to a bank account instead, follow our guide on how to cash out crypto.

Comparing Tangem with other devices first? Our overview of the best cold wallets puts Tangem, Ledger and Trezor side by side.

Tangem is a SharPay partner. Links to tangem.com in this article are partner links.