Is Tangem a cold wallet?

Yes, the Tangem hardware wallet is a cold wallet. The card or ring holds a chip that generates the private key and keeps it offline, and every transaction has to be approved with the physical device. The picture changed when Tangem added a Mobile Wallet that needs no card at all, so the answer depends on which Tangem product you use. Setup and backups are covered in what is Tangem wallet.

Is Tangem a cold or hot wallet?

Tangem's help center draws the line itself. The Hardware Wallet, meaning the card or ring, is described as a cold wallet on a dedicated device with a secure element chip, where signing requires the physical card or ring. Tangem says the key is created by a random number generator on the chip and never leaves it, and that the chip is not connected to the internet. The phone app only passes messages between the chip and the blockchain.

The Tangem Mobile Wallet is different. It runs in the app with no card and stores encrypted key material in the phone's secure hardware, backed up by a recovery phrase. Because the keys live on an internet-connected phone, it fits the usual meaning of a hot wallet. Tangem presents it as the convenient option and the hardware as the choice for long-term security. The general trade-off is explained in hot wallet vs cold wallet.

Is Tangem a self-custody wallet?

Yes. Tangem says it does not hold, custody or control users' assets or transactions. Its servers verify that a device is genuine, sync token lists and calculate values, but are not used to send or receive funds, and the wallet still works without them. That makes it a non-custodial wallet in the sense described in custodial vs non-custodial wallets.

Is Tangem open source?

Partly. Tangem says its app code is open source and downloadable from GitHub, so anyone could build a replacement app that talks to the card. Its SDKs for iOS and Android are public there too.

The card firmware is not. Tangem's help center says it does not publish the firmware source, arguing that doing so would expose the device to attack, and that the firmware is loaded once and cannot be updated. Instead it points to audits: Kudelski Security reviewed the firmware in 2018 and Riscure in 2023. In March 2026 Tangem said Cure53 had audited its mobile app SDKs.

Is Tangem a web3 wallet, and is it safe?

It can connect to apps. Tangem uses WalletConnect to link to dApps on Solana and many EVM networks, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum and Polygon. It has no built-in NFT marketplace, but can reach sites such as OpenSea this way. Tangem lists some dApps that do not work because they use non-standard signatures.

Safety depends on the setup and the user. Tangem warns that disconnecting a dApp does not cancel token approvals already given, which must be removed separately, and that confirmed transactions cannot be reversed. A cold wallet protects the key, not the decisions made with it.