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Tangem review

Updated September 28, 2026 · HodlCue Editorial Team · Facts checked September 26, 2026

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Our verdict

Tangem suits anyone who wants a physical card that keeps spending and saving in their own hands, at $59.90 to $180. It serves long-term holders who want a wide coin list inside self-custody, and suits less well people who need exchange features or phone support.

Key facts

Best for
A tap to use self-custody card for holding a very wide coin list.
Wallet type
Hardware↗
Price
$59.90 to $180↗
Custody
Self custody↗
Coins supported
14,100↗
Secure element
EAL6+ certified Samsung Semiconductor secure element↗
Open source
Yes↗
Connectivity
NFC↗
Backup options
Seed↗
Legal entity
Tangem AG↗
Headquarters
Switzerland↗
Founded
2017↗
Support channels
Email, Chat, Help-centre, Community↗
Features
Self-custody
Official website
tangem.com

Facts checked September 26, 2026, 2 sources

Apps and profiles

Get the app
App StoreGoogle Play
Elsewhere
LinkedInXyoutube.comreddit.com

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Tangem guards keys with a EAL6+ certified Samsung Semiconductor secure element, putting the important part in dedicated hardware rather than phone software.
  • The coin list of 14,100 puts the card at position 7 of 108 on coins supported.
  • Custody sits with the holder through self custody, and the software is published as open source for anyone to read.
  • Support runs on email, chat and help centre, covering email, chat, a help centre and a community.
  • Prices of $59.90 to $180 bracket the €69.28 hardware median, and the lower end undercuts Trezor at $79.

Cons

  • Support runs on email, chat and help centre only, so there is no phone line in the list.
  • Recovery runs on a seed phrase, listed as seed, which means the phrase itself carries the full balance.
  • Connectivity is nfc only, so a phone has to be on hand for every use.
  • The $59.90 to $180 range reaches past the €159.76 level that most ranked hardware wallets sit under.
Tangem

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Scored 9.0 / 10 by HodlCue.

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Who it suits

  • Long-term holders who want to keep rather than trade, with self custody leaving the keys with you and 14,100 covering the long tail of assets.
  • People who want card-style access to crypto without handing over a seed, since connectivity is nfc and a tap is the whole routine.
  • Readers who care about chip level security, because the EAL6+ certified Samsung Semiconductor secure element is the part that does the guarding.

Who should look elsewhere

  • Anyone wanting an app first account: Bit2Me is a mobile wallet, where Tangem is a card held in hand.
  • Holders who prefer a provider to look after the assets: bynex runs on custodial, the opposite of the self custody model here.
  • Buyers chasing the cheapest hardware device: Trezor lists at $79, under the upper end of the $59.90 to $180 range.

Coins and connections

The headline is breadth. Tangem supports 14,100 coins, which lifts the card far above most hardware devices on the tables we rank and means the card can carry a long tail of tokens for years without being replaced. Connectivity is nfc, so the phone does the talking: bring it near the card and the action is prepared, with nothing to plug in and no radio to pair. That shape rewards small, frequent actions. A tap suits sending, receiving and checking balances, and it removes the cable, the pairing step and the desktop companion software that desktop first devices ask you to install. The same shape sets a limit. Long signing jobs and heavy desktop workflows move faster on a device that sits beside a computer, and a very long coin list only helps if the networks you care about sit inside it. The connection method also decides what happens when a phone is lost or swapped, since the replacement only needs near field communication to pick the card up again.

How your money is protected

Custody is the starting point, and here it is plain: Tangem runs on self custody, so the assets never land on a platform balance that somebody else controls. The chip comes next. Keys are generated on the card and stay in a EAL6+ certified Samsung Semiconductor secure element, which moves the security question out of phone software and into dedicated hardware. Then there is openness. The software is published as open source, so the app, the firmware and the way the card talks to a phone can be read by anyone rather than taken on trust. None of that makes a card careless to use. Open code still has to be updated correctly, the card still has to be physically with you, and a certified chip protects what sits inside it rather than the phrase you wrote down. The fair summary is that risk here stays with the holder, and it concentrates in the recovery step and the habit of keeping the card safe rather than in a counterparty.

How it compares on our data

Our rankings place the card near the top on breadth and further down the table on price. On coins supported it sits at position 7 of 108, a near top slot among the wallets we track, which matches the wide list the device is built around. On price it sits at position 100 of 120, a long way down the table, which says the card is not among the cheapest options and not among the pricey ones either. Read together the shape is clear: plenty of assets at a middling outlay. That suits a holder who buys a card and keeps it, and it tells a shopper working to a fixed budget to start at the cheapest card in the range. The price ranking also spans every wallet category rather than hardware alone, so read it as a market wide signal and not a like for like verdict against another card.

The company behind it

The legal entity behind the product is Tangem AG, headquartered in Switzerland and founded in 2017, so the business is a named company with a track record through several hardware cycles rather than a one person project. Support runs on email, chat and help centre, which is a written first setup: email and chat for direct questions, a help centre for setup and recovery steps, and a community for everything in between. That suits readers who prefer a written trail they can search later to a phone call, and it is the part most likely to decide whether the product feels close at hand. A company page on its own does not show how quickly replies land, and longevity says nothing about response times. What the record does show is that a corporate entity stands behind the card, that it has been building this hardware since 2017, and that help arrives through written channels rather than a voice line.

How Tangem compares

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Tangem cost?+

Prices run $59.90 to $180 across the card range, and the purchase is a device rather than a plan tied to a platform balance. The entry card sits under the €69.28 median of the hardware wallets we rank, while the upper end of the range goes past the €159.76 mark most of them sit under.

Do I hold my own crypto?+

Tangem runs on self custody, so keys are created and kept on the card rather than on an account that someone else controls. Nothing needs to be held on your behalf, and the card never becomes a claim on a platform balance. Software is published as open source, so the app and firmware can be read rather than trusted.

How is the card secured?+

Keys stay in a EAL6+ certified Samsung Semiconductor secure element, which moves the security question out of phone software and into dedicated hardware. The software is open source on top of that. With self custody in place, the card carries the protection itself, so keeping the card and its recovery phrase safe stays the holder's job.

How many coins can the card hold?+

Tangem supports 14,100 coins, which places it at position 7 of 108 on our coins supported ranking. That sits well past the 345 median for the hardware wallets we rank, so coin breadth is unlikely to be the limit on what you can hold.

How do you use the card day to day?+

Connectivity is nfc, so the card is used by tapping it near a phone. There is no cable to plug in and no radio to pair, and the phone handles the interface while the card holds the keys. A new phone only needs near field communication before the card works again.

How do I recover a lost card?+

Backup is a seed phrase, listed as seed, so recovery after a lost card runs on that phrase rather than on the device. Anyone who sees the phrase controls the balance, which means it needs the same care as a bank login. A replacement card covers the hardware, not the phrase.

How do I get help?+

Support runs on email, chat and help centre, which is a written first setup rather than a phone line. Email and chat handle direct questions, the help centre covers setup and recovery steps, and the community covers everything in between. Readers who need voice support are better served by a provider that lists it.

Who runs Tangem?+

The legal entity is Tangem AG, based in Switzerland and founded in 2017. That is a named corporate operation rather than an anonymous project, and it has been building hardware through several product cycles. Company details say nothing about response times, so pair this with the support channels on offer.

Sources

  • tangem.com checked September 26, 2026

    Backs: Backup options, Coins supported, Connectivity, Custody, Features, Headquarters, Legal entity, Open source, Price, Secure element, Support channels, Wallet type

    “Backups replace the traditional 12-word recovery seed. A seed phrase remains optional for advanced users.”

  • tangem.com/en/company checked September 26, 2026

    Backs: Founded

    “2017 Founding Tangem - Founded in Zug, Switzerland on a single conviction: self-custody should be simple enough for anyone.”

Compiled from 2 source pages, checked September 26, 2026. We did not open an account.

Tangem

Tangem

A tap to use self-custody card for holding a very wide coin list.

9.0/10See alternatives