Ledger vs Tangem: Which Hardware Wallet Offers Better Crypto Security?

One of the most important rules in crypto is to do your own research (DYOR). That lesson is especially important when comparing signers (also known as hardware wallets) where convenience or cost should never be a substitute for the security of your funds.

Today, we’ll compare Ledger signers  with Tangem cards,  to demonstrate the fundamentally different  security architectures. 

That difference starts with something deceptively simple: the physical design of the device itself; because how a signer is built determines what it can show you at the moment of signing.

Hardware Wallet Design: Form Factor & Security Features

All crypto wallets can store keys, but a signer does something more: it authorizes transactions while showing you exactly what you’re approving before you approve it. That difference in framing reflects a difference in design philosophy, and is what separates Ledger and Tangem.

Both Tangem and Ledger store your private keys, the cryptographic codes that secure your crypto assets, isolated inside secure chips that never expose them to the internet. Your keys are generated on-device, stored in tamper-resistant silicon, and signing happens inside the chip itself.

From a pure key storage perspective, both architectures are sound, since both are designed to keep your private keys off the internet. 

But there’s a crucial difference – Tangem’s legacy onboarding requires entering your seed phrase on your phone first. Ledger never passes your keys through any external device at any point. Moreover, private keys don’t exist to be stored, they exist to authorize transactions. 

And the moment you use those keys to sign digital asset transactions, you expose your crypto assets to potential risks. 

NFC Card vs Dedicated Signers

Tangem is a card-based NFC wallet: thin as a credit card, with no screen and no buttons. You simply tap it against your phone to sign transactions, slip it in your wallet next to your ID, and ‘carry crypto like cash’. 

The transaction data passes from your smartphone app through NFC to the card, which signs and returns authorization. You verify what you’re signing by looking at your phone’s screen. This poses a security risk, which we will take you through in the section that follows. 

By contrast, a signer’s job is to authorize transactions while letting you verify exactly what you’re about to approve directly on the secure screen of the device itself (and not your phone or any other device). 

This gives you the ability to verify, and not simply trust, what you’re about to sign.

Ledger’s decade-long experience – with over 8 million devices sold – has produced a security model that has ensured no Ledger signer has ever been hacked. All of Ledger’s dedicated signers come with intuitive, secure touchscreens, a custom OS, and certified Secure Element chips. 

If you’re wondering, “Why is a secure screen so important?“, it’s because of how modern attacks work and how the presence of a secure screen versus a screenless device can mean more than just convenience.

Blind Signing & Transaction Modification Attacks

Given hackers can’t reach your private keys (as hardware wallets store them offline in a secure element), they instead target internet connected devices (like smartphones), and the weakest link in the transaction approval chain – you. 

They exploit what you can see on an interface, what you can understand, and whether you can verify what you’re actually signing.

This vulnerability manifests in two ways:

1. Blind signing: Blind signing means authorizing transactions without seeing details in human-readable format. Instead of “Send 1 ETH to 0x123…”, your device shows hexadecimal data, a transaction hash, or something like “Data Present.” You’re signing something you can’t read or interpret; it’s like the crypto equivalent of signing a contract in a language you don’t understand.
   
2. Compromised interface attacks: Even if transaction details appear in plain language on your phone’s screen, if that screen is controlled by malware, you have no guarantee what you see matches what you’re actually signing.

This is why your phone can never be the final point of verification. 

Why Secure Screens Actually Matter

Your phone’s screen can be manipulated and its memory can be read. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops are built around general-purpose chips (MCUs) designed for performance and versatility – not security. Connected devices are vulnerable¹ by design: wireless communication protocols in consumer electronics create massive attack surfaces that require specialized security architectures to protect against interception and manipulation.

Everyday devices connect to the internet, run thousands of third-party applications, and execute untrusted code as part of normal operation. That’s what makes them easy targets for malware that can silently rewrite transaction data before it ever reaches your NFC card.

A Secure Element is fundamentally different: it’s a specialized, tamper-resistant chip designed to store sensitive data and run secure applications. It exposes only the bare minimum information needed to complete a task, (like providing a signature) and does one thing it’s intended to do – secure your keys. 

You wouldn’t lock your bike with a rope; you wouldn’t trust a chip built for multitasking to protect your life savings.

In February 2025, leading global exchange Bybit fell victim to an interface attack². 

Through social engineering, the Bybit hack³ saw hackers compromise a supplier’s system and embed malicious code in what appeared to be a routine transaction. Their screens saw what appeared to be legitimate wallet addresses and approved the transfer. 

The hidden code transferred ownership of ~$1.5 billion to the attackers within seconds. 

What they saw and what they signed were not the same thing. 

With Tangem, the security model is split: the card holds keys, but your phone handles the wallet interface, transaction construction, address display, and verification. The card itself only signs the resulting hash; and so it has no visibility into the transaction’s actual contents. 

So the question isn’t how safe your keys are, it’s whether you can actually verify what those keys are signing.

Ledger signers come with secure touchscreens and also implement Clear Signing. Let’s understand exactly how this setup eliminates multiple attack vectors.

Ledger Clear Signing Solution: What You See Is What You Sign

Ledger’s Clear Signing solution uses the EIP-7730 Clear Signing Standard⁴ to address both problems, the vulnerabilities of blind signing⁵, and the dangers of signing on a compromised screen simultaneously through two non-negotiable conditions:

1. First, transaction details are made human-readable.
   On a Ledger signer screen, you’ll see transactions displayed in plain language, showing exactly what you’re authorizing: recipient address, amount being sent, smart contract function being called, etc.
2. Second, those details are displayed on a tamper-proof screen.
   The data cannot appear on your phone or computer where malware can manipulate it. It is shown on your signer’s screen, which can’t be tampered.

All Ledger signers achieve this through Secure Screens that are controlled and driven directly by the Secure Element chip – offline and isolated from your connected devices. The Ledger Nano Gen5, Ledger Flex, and Ledger Stax feature larger secure touchscreen displays for effortless, at-a-glance verification.

For instance, if your Ledger screen displays “Send 0.5 BTC to 0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb,” that output comes straight from the signing chip – not your browser, OS, or app, forming a secure, closed-loop verification. This renders transaction modification attacks ineffective, as the viewed and signed data reside in the same protected environment.

Clear Signing is native in Ledger’s all-in-one crypto app Ledger Wallet™. 

When using third-party integrations like MetaMask or Phantom, Clear Signing depends on whether those applications send parsed transaction metadata to the Ledger signer. For standard token transfers, this often works. For complex smart contract interactions, you may still encounter blind signing prompts if the dApp doesn’t provide full transaction details. Ledger actively collaborates with the ecosystem to expand Clear Signing support across more protocols.

Ledger Transaction Check

While Clear Signing shows you what you’re signing, Transaction Check tells you whether it’s safe to sign.

Ledger’s Transaction Check operates as a proactive security layer for EVM transactions within Ledger Wallet. When you initiate a transaction, the unsigned data is sent to independent simulation providers who run real-time simulations using blockchain state, mempool data, prediction models, and historical threat intelligence. 

These providers return a cryptographically signed risk assessment report directly to your Ledger signer.

Your device’s Secure Element verifies if the report matches your exact transaction, then displays the risk assessment on your signer’s Secure Screen warning you of malicious contracts or flagged addresses before you sign. Because both verification and display happen on-device, the warning cannot be altered by a compromised phone or browser. Transaction Check is now standard across all Ledger signers.

Tangem offers no equivalent. Without a screen, there’s no trusted surface to display risk assessments; and without updatable firmware, there’s no mechanism to integrate evolving threat intelligence.

Security Architecture: Secure Chips & Operating Systems

EAL Security Ratings Explained: EAL5+ vs EAL6+

EAL (Evaluation Assurance Level) certification tests a chip’s resistance to physical attacks, such as side-channel analysis (e.g., spying on power leaks), fault injection (forcing errors to crack security), and invasive probing (physically dissecting the chip for data).

Manufacturers like Samsung or STMicroelectronics assign it before wallet makers add their code.

You might hear Tangem’s EAL6+ rating beats Ledger’s, but that’s misleading. Only the Ledger Nano X has an EAL5+ certified secure element; all other models like Ledger Nano S Plus, Ledger Nano Gen5, Ledger Flex, and the Ledger Stax, contain EAL6+ certified secure element chips⁶.

Still, certification alone isn’t enough for security. EAL ratings only cover the hardware and its underlying platform – they say nothing about the code running on top of it. 

A certified chip running flawed code is still vulnerable. This is precisely why the Ledger Donjon exists: to review the code and conduct attacks on Ledger’s own products using sophisticated techniques and tools, ensuring the software meets the same security standard as the hardware it runs on. 

Secure Element Architecture: Vault vs Full Operating System

Tangem treats its Secure Element chip as a simple vault: it generates and stores private keys, receives transaction data via NFC from your phone, signs it inside the chip, and returns the signature.

While the chip handles core cryptography securely, all transaction parsing, user interface, and verification logic run on your smartphone, making your phone a critical risk factor.

Ledger takes a fundamentally different approach by running a custom operating system entirely within the Secure Element itself. This OS transforms the chip from a passive vault into an active security environment with several key capabilities:

1. App isolation through sandboxing: Each cryptocurrency app (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, etc.) operates in its own isolated compartment, preventing any app from accessing another’s data or keys—blocking cross-app exploits
2. Third-party development: Open-source apps can be built and published by external developers via GitHub, expanding functionality while maintaining security
3. Multi-application support: Runs separate cryptocurrency apps in isolated environments within the Secure Element, keeping blockchain-specific logic in hardware rather than on your phone. 
4. Direct screen control: The OS controls the Secure Screen output directly from the chip, guaranteeing that displayed transaction details exactly match what’s being signed

This architecture reduces your phone or computer to an untrusted communication channel that simply relays encrypted data without ever accessing keys or influencing what you sign. Even if malware infects your computer, it cannot alter what appears on Ledger’s screen or manipulate the signing process.

• Secure Element (Ledger): A certified tamper-resistant chip that stores private keys, runs Ledger’s custom operating system, isolates applications from each other, and drives the Secure Screen — handling the entire signing and verification process in one protected environment.
• Secure Element (Tangem): A certified tamper-resistant chip that stores private keys and performs cryptographic signing via NFC, but relies on the smartphone for transaction construction, wallet interface, address display, and verification. Functions as a secure vault rather than a complete signing environment.

‘Open Source’ Does Not Mean Safer

A common misconception is that open-source wallets are inherently more secure. The reality is more nuanced.

Tangem’s mobile app is open source, but the wallet’s firmware is closed source. In December 2024, Tangem had a bug in their mobile app that accidentally saved some users’ private wallet info (like secret recovery phrases) in logs if they turned on a backup feature.

This was significant because it could have risked users’ privacy if they contacted support right after; the app might share basic device details (like your phone type and software version) in help emails, even though Tangem says they don’t track or know anything about you.

Plus, while anyone can see and tweak the app’s code online (it’s open for review), some experts found that building your own version at home doesn’t fully work with the cards, making it harder to double-check everything yourself. 

Tangem fixed the bug with an update, with no reported draining of funds, but it sparked talks about trusting app support and how truly ‘open’ the system is.

With Ledger, the embedded apps (the code that directly manipulates your keys and signs your transactions) are open source and auditable on GitHub. The Ethereum app, for example, is publicly available for any security researcher to inspect. 

A Ledger hardware signer stores your private keys inside a Secure Element,  the same class of chip used in biometric passports and credit cards, certified to the EAL6+ standard reserved for banking and government security. The business logic that touches your assets is transparent and verifiable, while the hardware protections that guard against physical and remote attacks are baked into the chip itself. Every transaction requires your physical approval on the device, meaning even a fully compromised computer cannot move your assets without you

Ledger’s custom OS also enforces a genuine check that verifies the authenticity of every app installed on the device — including the business logic that handles your keys and signs your transactions. Because that code runs on the Secure Element, the genuine check can actually guarantee its integrity. Tangem has a genuine check too, but since its business logic runs on your phone, the check can’t extend to the code that matters most.

Security In Practice: Firmware, Authentication & Vulnerabilities

Security Evaluation: Internal vs Third-Party

Ledger’s white-hat hacker team, the Ledger Donjon, conducts continuous internal security evaluations of both the hardware platform and the code running on it, even when the chip already carries EAL certification. This means ongoing testing of the full security stack.

The Donjon operates as a closed feedback loop: discover vulnerabilities, develop fixes, deploy updates, and test again. This cycle is what makes continuous evaluation meaningful, findings don’t just get documented, they get corrected.

Tangem relies on periodic third-party audits, where depth of evaluation depends on resources allocated to each engagement. Between audit cycles, the closed-source firmware cannot be scrutinized by outside researchers. Audits are snapshots, not shields, they reflect the state of the system at a fixed point in time. A vulnerability that isn’t found in the first engagement doesn’t mean it won’t surface six months later, and attackers don’t wait for recertification cycles. 

Tangem’s two audits (Kudelski Security in 2018 and Riscure in 2023) leave multi-year gaps where no external scrutiny is possible and no fixes can be deployed even if issues are found.

The Firmware Update Problem

A fixed firmware model assumes the system is complete the day it ships — that every future attack has been anticipated, that no assumptions will break, and that nothing in the threat landscape will change. That has never been the case in security. As Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet wrote: “Freezing the system doesn’t protect users, it protects the attacker.“

Security is a moving target. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. If a risk exists, assume it will be exploited. So what does a robust security model look like?

My thoughts in this X article: https://t.co/IMA1zVDuwQ

— Charles Guillemet (@P3b7_) February 2, 2026

Tangem’s firmware cannot be updated, so if a security vulnerability is discovered in the card’s code, there’s no patch. The only solution is purchasing new cards with updated firmware. And because Tangem discourages seed phrase backups, migrating assets means on-chain transactions for everything you hold.

Ledger Donjon discovered a vulnerability in Tangem cards  that allowed attackers to bypass password rate-limiting and brute-force weak passwords. Tangem had no way to patch it, so the vulnerability existed on every card shipped before the fix was applied to new production runs.

Ledger signers receive firmware updates that fix vulnerabilities, add blockchain support, and improve security without replacing hardware. Crucially, updateability does not compromise key security — private keys remain inside the Secure Element at all times, physically isolated and unreachable regardless of what firmware changes occur around them. Updates happen around the trust boundary, not through it. This distinction matters because it determines whether your device can grow with an evolving ecosystem.

Authentication: PIN vs Password

Ledger signers require a PIN entered directly on the signer’s Secure Screen, never on your phone or computer, to unlock the device. After three wrong PIN attempts, the device wipes itself entirely.

Tangem uses a password for authentication, but it’s entered on your phone. While Tangem implements a security delay between incorrect attempts, this is the same rate-limiting that the Ledger Donjon team demonstrated could be bypassed. 

Moreover, because Tangem’s firmware can’t be updated, this remains a concern for cards already in circulation.

Tangem’s Two-Card Compromise

By default, Tangem ships with password recovery enabled. If an attacker obtains two of your three cards, they can reset the password and access your funds immediately, no additional authentication required. Tangem treats physical possession of two cards as sufficient proof of ownership.

This is an architectural difference in authentication models:

• Ledger:
  • Requires PIN (on-device) OR 24-word seed phrase / 25 word passphrase option
  • Device is wiped after three failed attempts. 
  • Backup optionality – Recovery sheet, Ledger Recovery Key and Ledger Recover
    
• Tangem:
  • Two cards = full access (default setting)

Crypto Wallet Recovery: Backup Methods Compared

When hardware fails, gets lost, or is destroyed, how you recover your assets determines whether you maintain sovereignty or lose everything.

Tangem’s Multi-Card System

Tangem provides 2-3 cards with identical keys for redundancy.

If you lose all cards, your funds are permanently gone unless you’ve enabled seed phrase backup during setup. But Tangem discourages this because generating or importing a seed phrase requires entering it into your smartphone.

For users who want true seedless operation, the cards themselves become the only recovery method. And as covered in the previous section, Tangem’s default setting treats two cards as sufficient for password reset, making physical security your entire threat model.

Ledger’s Universal Standards

Ledger uses the industry-standard BIP-39 Secret Recovery Phrase: 24 words generated on-device representing your private keys in human-readable format. This ensures you’re never locked into Ledger hardware.

If Ledger disappears tomorrow, you can recover assets on any BIP-39-compatible wallet. If your signer breaks, you restore using the same phrase. The standard is open, the recovery method is universal. With Tangem’s immutable firmware and proprietary cards, you’re trusting the company’s longevity.

But BIP-39 is just the foundation. 

HD Wallets & Why They Matter

The same open standards that make your seed phrase universal (BIP-32 and BIP-44) also enable Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) wallets: a feature that automatically generates a new receiving address for every transaction you receive.

This matters for two reasons. 

1. First, privacy: because each transaction uses a fresh address, outsiders can’t easily link your full history or track your total holdings through blockchain explorers. 
2. Second, compatibility: HD derivation paths are an industry standard, meaning your accounts and addresses transfer cleanly across any compliant wallet.

Tangem does not support HD wallets. It reuses the same address for every transaction, which means anyone; hackers, advertisers, surveillance tools, can look up your complete transaction history and current balance on the blockchain. 

Combined with Tangem’s lack of BIP-39 adoption, this creates a pattern: proprietary standards that lock you in and strip away protections that the rest of the industry treats as baseline

Ledger Passphrase Feature

Ledger’s passphrase (25th word) feature allows you to create and unlock a new, secret wallet from your seed, enabling plausible deniability, which means, if physically coerced, you could reveal a decoy wallet with minimal funds while hiding main holdings behind a secret passphrase. The passphrase is also entered on the Secure Screen, and never your phone or computer.

Tangem offers password protection and optional seed phrase backup, but both require entry on your phone. 

Every sensitive input passes through the same surface bv attackers target.

Ledger Recovery Key

The Ledger Recovery Key is a PIN-protected card with its own Secure Element that stores an encrypted copy of your 24-word recovery phrase entirely offline – no cloud, no KYC, no subscription. Tap it against your Ledger signer and enter the PIN to restore. Three incorrect attempts wipe the card completely.

The Recovery Key is included at no extra cost with every new Ledger touchscreen signer. Its application code is publicly available on GitHub as open-source software and has undergone testing by the Ledger Donjon team. 

A key advantage is its updatable firmware, which allows for patching if a vulnerability is discovered; a capability lacking in backup solutions based on immutable hardware. This matters because Tangem’s multi-card backup is also physical, but one where two cards in the wrong hands means immediate fund access, and where firmware on those cards can never be updated.

Digital Ownership Beyond Crypto

In 2026’s multichain crypto landscape, it’s important that a hardware wallet evolves with the ecosystem, supporting diverse assets, integrations, and technologies like passwordless authentication, while preserving security and user sovereignty.

Ledger Wallet (formerly Ledger Live) allows you to do more with your crypto, with over 15,000 coins and tokens you can purchase and manage natively. Swap crypto cross-chain with integrated swap partners and the comfort of at-a-glance verification. Staking with Ledger Wallet spans dozens of networks (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, Cosmos) with real-time reward tracking, and keeps keys secure without third-party exposure. 

Beyond Asset Handling

Ledger signers serve as FIDO2 hardware passkeys using the Security Key app for passwordless logins, transforming them into a cryptographic passport for web3 and services like Gmail or GitHub. The device’s built-in Secure Element chip handles authentication directly, making it nearly impossible for phishing scams or AI-generated fakes to trick you.

Ledger integrates seamlessly with key web3 wallets like MetaMask, Phantom, and more, plus DeFi platforms such as Uniswap for swaps, Aave for lending, and OpenSea for NFTs—allowing secure hardware signing. Firmware updates handle new blockchains or cryptographic curves (e.g., for advanced signatures), ensuring future-proofing without hardware swaps.

Tangem’s app emphasizes simplicity for basics like sending, receiving, and balances, but supports only ~100 assets natively, with limited staking and no swaps. Its non-updatable firmware prevents adaptation to new curves or chains, risking obsolescence and requiring new cards for compatibility.

Tangem Hot Wallet Feature: Security Risks Explained

In early 2026, Tangem added the ability to create “hot wallets” inside the same app you use to manage your Tangem card. These hot wallets are software-only, so your keys live on your phone with no hardware card protection.

The problem isn’t the feature itself. It’s that both wallet types live in the same interface, under the same app, with the same look and feel. A user managing multiple wallets could easily send a transaction from the wrong one, believing their hardware card is protecting the transaction when, in reality, the keys never left their phone.

This is the opposite of what a hardware wallet is for. The entire point of a signer is to keep keys off internet-connected devices. An app that blurs the line between protected and unprotected wallets introduces exactly the kind of user error that hardware wallets exist to prevent.

Ledger vs Tangem: Which is Best For You?

Beyond all the statistics and security architectures lies a simple reality: your hardware wallet is the only barrier between your wealth and a hostile internet, in an era where your phone can lie to you. 

A vulnerability discovered in the near-future shouldn’t leave you holding unpatchable hardware, and in worst-case scenarios, your recovery shouldn’t depend on one company’s longevity or two cards ending up in the wrong hands.

Ledger signers currently protect over 20% of the world’s crypto value, with over a decade of experience and 8 million signers sold. This trust was earned with a security model that has stood the test of time in all eras of crypto. Built for bull markets, bear markets, exchange crashes, evolving threats, a post-$100K BTC world, and the evolving landscape of digital ownership where AI agents can manage digital tasks and transactions for you. 

When your digital life is built on verifiable trust rather than blind faith, and on adaptable defenses rather than permanent limitations, you’ll truly secure your assets for the long decades of digital ownership to come. 

So why wait? 

Invest in a Ledger signer today, and experience the next-generation of crypto and digital ownership free from compromise.

Ultimate Ledger vs Tangem Comparison Table

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can Tangem’s firmware be updated if a vulnerability is found?

No. Tangem’s firmware is immutable. The only solution is purchasing new cards. See “The Firmware Problem” section for details.

2. Does Ledger’s screen actually prevent phishing attacks?

Yes. Clear Signing means transaction data displayed on Ledger’s Secure Screen is cryptographically identical to what you’re signing, even if malware compromises your computer or phone.

3. What happens if I lose my Tangem cards?

Without seed phrase backup enabled, funds are permanently lost. Enabling seed phrase backup requires entering it into your phone, exposing keys to your smartphone’s attack surface.

4. Can someone access my Tangem wallet if they steal two cards?

Yes. By default, Tangem’s password recovery feature allows an attacker with two cards to reset the password and access funds immediately. See “Tangem’s Two-Card Compromise” section.

5. Is Tangem’s EAL6+ chip more secure than Ledger’s EAL5+?

Certification measures chip resistance to physical attacks, not overall security. The Nano X uses EAL5+; newer Ledger models use EAL6+ (matching Tangem). But Tangem is a card with no screen, you verify transactions on your phone where malware can compromise the display. Ledger’s Secure Element drives the screen itself, creating a closed verification loop.

References:

1 – NIST: Guide to Bluetooth Security – National Institute of Standard & Technology
2 – The Bybit Attack – Fortune.com
3 – TRM Labs: Analyzing the $1.5B Bybit Incident – TRM Labs
4 – EIP-7730: Clear Signing Standard Format – Github
5 – NCC Group: Technical Analysis of the Bybit Hack – NCC Group
6 – EAL: Certified Products List – Common Criteria