Tangem Wallet: the easiest way to carry your crypto savings into Switzerland — without a seed phrase

Section 2

How Tangem works — NFC tap, backup cards, no seed phrase

The mental model is simple.

The private key lives on the chip

The chip itself generates the private key when you first activate the card. The key is mathematically generated inside the chip's secure element. It never leaves the chip — not during activation, not during signing, not during recovery. The chip has no USB port and no way to export the key in plain text.

You sign by tapping

When you want to send crypto, you build the transaction in the Tangem app on your phone. The app sends the unsigned transaction bytes to the card via NFC. The chip signs them with the private key. The signed transaction comes back to the phone, which broadcasts it to the relevant blockchain. The phone never sees the private key. A compromised phone cannot steal your funds without your physical card.

Backup cards replace the seed phrase

In a traditional hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor), recovery is a 12 or 24-word phrase you must write down and protect for the lifetime of the wallet. Lose the phrase and lose the wallet.

In Tangem, recovery is another physical card — a sibling card from the same set, paired during initial setup. You typically buy a 2-card or 3-card pack. Keep one card with you, hide the second in a fireproof location (home safe, parents' house, bank deposit box). If the first card is lost or destroyed, the backup card has the same wallet keys and continues to work.

Newer Tangem firmware also supports an optional export to a standard BIP-39 seed phrase, which lets you migrate to any other wallet later — but you do not have to use it. The default flow stays card-only.

Section 4

Tangem vs the traditional seed-phrase model

This is the question every existing crypto holder will ask: is Tangem really as secure as a Ledger or Trezor with a 24-word backup? The honest answer is: different, not worse.

Both models can be done safely. Both models can be done badly. The Tangem model removes the "I wrote the phrase down somewhere and now I cannot find it" failure mode and replaces it with the "I lost all my backup cards" failure mode. Most people find the cards easier to secure than a long string of arbitrary words.

Section 6

Pricing and what 10% off means in francs

Tangem is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.

A typical Tangem Wallet set is sold in a 2-card or 3-card pack. Approximate pricing on the standard product line (as of publication):

• — 2-card pack — ~CHF 50–70 depending on shipping and active promotions
• — 3-card pack — ~CHF 70–90

Through our referral link, you get 10% off the purchase. On a 3-card pack this is typically ~CHF 7–9 — not life-changing money, but it covers shipping, and the discount applies on top of any active Tangem promotion in most cases.

For context, a Ledger Nano S Plus is roughly CHF 80; a Trezor Model One starts around CHF 70; a Trezor Model T is roughly CHF 220. Tangem sits in the mainstream-hardware-wallet price range, with the 10% off bringing the 3-card set to the cheapest option per "device" in the set.

There are no ongoing fees. You buy the card, the cards last the lifetime of the chips (decades), and Tangem makes no money from you after the purchase.

Section 8

Security, audits and the company behind it

Tangem is a Swiss-incorporated company (Tangem AG, Zug) with operations across Asia and Europe.

What this does not protect you from:

• — Physical theft of all cards: if an adversary obtains every card in your set, they can transfer your crypto. Geographic separation matters.
• — Social engineering: nobody can extract the private key from the card, but anyone can be tricked into voluntarily signing a malicious transaction. This is the same risk as any wallet.
• — Supply-chain tampering: buy directly from Tangem (or through our link, which goes to Tangem). Do not buy second-hand or from third-party marketplaces.

For most users, this security profile is dramatically better than leaving crypto on a custodial exchange.

Section 10

Tangem vs Trezor

Trezor is the other major incumbent.

Honest call: Trezor for users who value open-source hardware and a built-in screen (Model T or Safe 3 / Safe 5). Tangem for the simplest path from "I have crypto on an exchange" to "I have crypto in self-custody".

A dedicated Trezor review is in our pipeline and will be linked here when published.

1. 1 Step 1

   Order through tangem.com

   Use our referral link to apply the 10% discount automatically at checkout.

2. 2 Step 2

   Pick a 2-card or 3-card pack

   Most users start with the 3-card pack (one in daily use, two as backups in separate locations).

3. 3 Step 3

   Ship to a Swiss address

   Standard delivery to Switzerland is typically 1–2 weeks; express options are available.

4. 4 Step 4

   Pay with card or crypto

   Tangem accepts standard payment methods and selected cryptocurrencies.

Section 14

How expats commonly use Tangem

Based on conversations with expats in Switzerland, our own product testing, and periodic product re-checks, the most common Tangem use patterns are:

• Cold storage for long-term holdings. Move BTC / ETH / stablecoins off the exchange and let them sit on Tangem. Tap-to-sign only when you actually want to move them.
• Carry strategy during relocation. Activate before the move, deposit crypto, fly with one card in your wallet, mail another ahead to your new address.
• Stablecoin rails for international family transfers. Hold USDT or USDC on Tangem and transfer to family in other countries — cheaper than fiat rails in certain corridors.
• Long-tail altcoin storage. For holders of less-mainstream tokens, Tangem covers more chains than most card-form wallets.
• Not a trading account. Trading still happens on an exchange. Tangem is where holdings rest between trades.

See the About page for our editorial methodology.

Section 16

Final verdict

For an expat in Switzerland — or anyone moving to Switzerland — who already holds crypto, Tangem Wallet is the easiest path to true self-custody. The card form factor, NFC tap-to-sign, and physical-card backup model remove almost all the friction that has historically kept normal people on custodial exchanges instead of self-custody.

It is not a perfect product for every user. Advanced self-custodians who prefer seed phrases will stick with Ledger or Trezor. Users who want a built-in screen will pick Trezor Model T or Ledger Stax. But for the broad middle — people with non-trivial crypto holdings who have been putting off self-custody because it "seemed too technical" — Tangem genuinely fixes the friction problem.

The honest mental model: Swiss bank for Swiss life, Wise for cross-border fiat, Tangem for crypto self-custody, Revolut optional for travel-card spending. Four tools, each doing what it does best.