An NFC cold wallet keeps your private key inside a secure chip embedded in a card. The card has no battery and sits idle until you hold it against a phone. When you do, the field powers the chip, the chip signs the transaction inside the card, and only the signed result goes back to the phone.
The card-shaped format fits in the wallet you already carry.
Everyday use requires a short tap rather than a cable or pairing process.
A passive NFC card can work without a battery, so there is nothing to charge.
The same chip standard used in passports and bank cards.
Both models can store private keys in a card's secure chip. The difference is how you recover access. In this comparison, the seed phrase model uses BIP39, a standard set of recovery words that works with compatible wallets. A seedless NFC card wallet creates no recovery words by default and typically uses linked hardware cards as the backup.
| Seed Phrase | Seedless | |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery backup | A BIP39 phrase you record and protect | Linked hardware cards with no phrase by default |
| If every card is lost | Restore with the phrase in a compatible BIP39 wallet | No phrase-based recovery is available |
| Cross-wallet recovery | Available through compatible BIP39 wallets | Unavailable while using seedless mode |
| What you protect | The written phrase and the cards you use | At least one linked card plus backups stored separately |
Both models keep recovery responsibility with you, but they place it in different things. If you prefer not to manage written recovery words and are comfortable safeguarding a matched set of cards, Tangem's default seedless mode may suit you. If you want a standard recovery phrase that works with compatible wallets and gives you direct control over cross-wallet recovery, the ELLIPAL X Card is built around the seed phrase model.
The ELLIPAL X Card is a seed phrase NFC cold wallet. The ELLIPAL X Card stores private keys in a CC EAL6+ secure chip and uses NFC tap signing, while its standard BIP39 phrase lets you restore the wallet in another compatible wallet.
To create a new wallet, use the small offline setup device included with the ELLIPAL X Card. This device, called the Starter, generates the private key and seed phrase away from a phone or computer, then writes the wallet to the card. The process takes about three minutes. After setup, use the ELLIPAL App and tap the card to sign transactions.
Already use a BIP39 wallet? Enter the same seed phrase on the offline setup device to set up compatible accounts on the ELLIPAL X Card. Your assets stay on the blockchain, so there is no transfer, no new account and no starting over. The card then handles everyday signing through the ELLIPAL App.
CC EAL6+ is a Common Criteria assurance level used to evaluate secure chips. The ELLIPAL X Card stores the private key and performs signing inside its CC EAL6+ secure chip. When you tap the card to your phone, the chip signs the transaction and returns the signed data to the ELLIPAL App. Read more in the ELLIPAL Security Lab.
Explore the ELLIPAL X Card, or see the full security architecture behind every ELLIPAL product.
