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 ELLIPAL X Card Starter included in the box. It runs a 100% Offline Setup — the private key and Seed Phrase are generated away from any phone or computer, then written to the card. The process takes about three minutes.
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.
A 6 to 16 digit PIN is required for every NFC Tap Signing. Enter it in the ELLIPAL App, on a randomized secure keyboard. Lose the card and the PIN still stands between it and your assets.
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.
Explore the ELLIPAL X Card, or see the full security architecture behind every ELLIPAL product.
