Foundation Passport vs Tangem Wallet

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-26

Bitcoin-only hardware from a US company, now sold as the $349 Passport Prime: keys, two factor codes, security keys and encrypted storage in one device.

Tangem Wallet3.8

A smart card you tap against your phone, sold only in sets of two or three so your backup is another card rather than a written seed.

Verdict: Foundation Passport

Foundation Passport rates higher on our rubric: 4.3 against 3.8 for Tangem Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Foundation Passport: 4.3
Tangem Wallet: 3.8

Foundation Passport and Tangem Wallet, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Foundation Passport and Tangem Wallet compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Foundation Passport	Tangem Wallet
Editorial rating	4.3 (favoured on this row)	3.8
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Foundation Devices	Tangem
Price	$349	$59.9
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, keys held on dedicated hardware and isolated from sandboxed apps by the KeyOS microkernel	self-custodial, keys generated and held inside each card's certified chip, with no seed phrase by default
Bitcoin-only	Yes	No
Runs on	iOS, Android	iOS, Android
Screen	Not stated	None. The card has no display, so you verify transactions on your phone
Connectivity	QuantumLink encrypted Bluetooth through a dedicated chip, plus NFC and USB for security key use; setup and updates run through the Envoy app	NFC tap against a phone running the Tangem app
Released	Not stated	Not stated
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	201
Last reviewed	2026-08-26	2026-08-25

Pros and cons, side by side

Foundation Passport

What works

Bitcoin only, with open source apps and a published independent audit quote
KeyOS sandboxes apps so a compromised app cannot reach the master keys
Bluetooth runs through a dedicated chip rather than the processor holding your secrets
Envoy is distributed on F-Droid as well as the App Store and Google Play
Assembled in the USA, which matters if supply chain provenance is part of your threat model

What to watch

$349 is well above most bitcoin-only signers
Passport Core, the cheaper earlier model, has been discontinued
No reachable country list: the terms name a Shipping Policy that is not published anywhere, and Foundation may refuse an order over export or sanctions concerns
A smaller company with a shorter public track record than Ledger, Trezor or Coinkite

Tangem Wallet

What works

Keys are generated inside a certified chip and never leave it, with no seed phrase to steal by default
Sold in sets of two or three, so the backup is a second card rather than a written phrase
Nothing to charge, connect or cable up: you tap the card against your phone
Tangem states that no Tangem server sits between your card, your phone and the blockchain
Buy and swap are built into the app

What to watch

No screen, so you verify transaction details on the phone rather than on the device itself
Lose every card in the set without having created a seed phrase and the funds are unrecoverable
Not bitcoin-only
Tangem refuses delivery to 40 named jurisdictions, Colombia, Laos and Vietnam among them

Frequently asked questions

Is Foundation Passport or Tangem Wallet better?

Foundation Passport rates higher on our rubric: 4.3 against 3.8 for Tangem Wallet. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Which is cheaper, Foundation Passport or Tangem Wallet?

Tangem Wallet, at $59.9 against $349, on each maker's own store price as of the review date.

Is Foundation Passport or Tangem Wallet bitcoin-only?

Foundation Passport is bitcoin-only; Tangem Wallet supports other assets too. Multi-asset, with buy and swap built into the app

The full reviews: Foundation Passport and Tangem Wallet, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

More comparisons

Every other head-to-head Foundation Passport or Tangem Wallet appears in.