Tangem Wallet Review

The Tangem Wallet sets itself apart from other hardware wallets with its unique backup system. Instead of a recovery seed phrase, Tangem uses multiple physical cards to protect your private keys. This means that even if you lose one card, you can still safely recover your crypto.

We see both advantages and disadvantages in Tangem’s backup system. On this page, we share all the pros and cons we found while testing and researching the Tangem Wallet.

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Advantages of the Tangem Wallet

• No hassle with writing down and securing a recovery phrase. Tangem’s unique system allows you to create backups of the private key from your first card onto the additional included cards. Each card grants access to your crypto wallets. Because of this, the setup takes only 5 minutes, whereas other hardware wallets can take up to 30 minutes. Traditional hardware wallets generate a 12-, 20-, or 24-word recovery seed, which you must write down and verify. This seed acts as a backup. With the Tangem Wallet, however, your backup is simply one of the additional cards. We highly recommend choosing the 3-card version for added security.
• Supports many altcoins. The Tangem Wallet supports a wide variety of cryptocurrencies and tokens. It is also quick to add newly popular coins. Some examples of coins and tokens that many hardware wallets do not support—but Tangem does—include Kaspa, Cardano (and tokens), Base, Arbitrum, Cronos, Kava, VeChain, and zkSync.

Disadvantages of the Tangem Wallet

• Cards-only backup. What is an advantage for some may be a disadvantage for others. As mentioned in the advantages section, Tangem allows for fast setup and multiple backups without a recovery seed. However, we see risks in relying only on physical cards as backups. Many people store all their cards in the same place, which could be risky in the event of fire or theft.
• No computer support. The Tangem Wallet can only be used with iOS and Android phones. It is not compatible with computers.

Good to know

• Optional recovery seed phrase functionality. While setting up the Tangem Wallet, you may encounter an option to create a recovery seed phrase. We strongly advise against this. Tangem does allow you to generate a recovery seed, but it will be displayed on your phone screen, which is unsafe since your phone is connected to the internet. Tangem also allows importing a recovery seed as a recovery method, but we do not recommend this either for the same security reasons.

Who is the Tangem Wallet suitable for?

We recommend the Tangem Wallet for crypto users who:

• Want a hardware wallet
• Prefer not to use a recovery seed
• Have an iOS or Android phone

Additionally, we strongly recommend using the Tangem Wallet only if you can store your backup cards in multiple locations. If you keep all your cards in one place and they are lost, stolen, or destroyed in a fire, you risk losing your crypto.

Questions?

Do you have any questions? Email us at hallo@cryptomaan.nl.