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Head-to-head · Hardware Wallets

Coldcard vs Foundation Passport Foundation Passport leads by 2 points.

Foundation Passport scores 2 points above Coldcard, led by genuine check and fund-loss record. Coldcard ranks #11 and Foundation Passport #9 of 23 published hardware wallets. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.

Coldcard66
Foundation Passport68
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #11 and #9 of 23
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot Evidence verified through 6 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-COLDCARD-VS-FOUNDATION-PASSPORT-13df1e55
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

Foundation Passport leads by 2 points

Foundation Passport scores 2 points above Coldcard, led by genuine check and fund-loss record.

Coldcard #11 of 2366
Foundation Passport #9 of 2368
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termFoundation Passport leads on 2 of 6 published criteria; Coldcard on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermFoundation PassportColdcardWeightPoints
Genuine check7/105/102.9+1.5for Foundation Passport+0.8 of 32
Fund-loss record5/101/102.6+2.7for Foundation Passport+1.4 of 32
Maker independence6/1010/102.6−2.7for Coldcard−1.4 of 32
Net of the terms+1.5
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.1
Reproduced gap+1.6
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below6866+2.0

Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.

Quick facts

At a glance

3 of 5 rows read the same for both.
FactColdcardFoundation Passport
One-time priceSnapshotCOLDCARD Mk5 at $219 ("Buy Now $219 USD") on https://coldcard.com/mk5, read 1 October 2026.Foundation Passport Prime at $349 on the US store https://foundation.xyz/products/passport-prime?country=US, read 1 October 2026.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, globalus, europe, global
Custody modelEditorialSelf-custody: the keys stay on the deviceSelf-custody: the keys stay on the device
Security postureSnapshotSecure element, no listed certificate; fully open source; air-gapped signing; a device-level flaw cost owners funds.Secure element, no listed certificate; fully open source; air-gapped signing.
From the published criteria

Which should you pick?

Coldcard

66#11 of 23
Pick it when
Pick Coldcard if maker independence matters most — it scores 10/10 to Foundation Passport's 6/10 there (weight 11).
Strength
Firmware anyone can rebuild and match — 10/10
Tradeoff
30 July 2026: Coinkite reported that firmware before 5.6.0 generated weak seeds (about 72 bits) on Mk4, Mk5 and Q, and that attackers stole funds from weak seeds; update, then move any seed made before 5.6.0 to a new one

Foundation Passport

68#9 of 23
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Foundation Passport if genuine check matters most — it scores 7/10 to Coldcard's 5/10 there (weight 12).
Strength
Firmware anyone can rebuild and match — 10/10
Tradeoff
First setup needs the Envoy app over Bluetooth and a check against Foundation's validation server
Self-identify in 10 seconds

Which one is actually for you?

Coldcard

Choose Coldcard if maker independence matters most

  • Maker independence: 10/10 against 6/10 for Foundation Passport (weight 11)
Foundation PassportLeads

Choose Foundation Passport if genuine check matters most

  • Genuine check: 7/10 against 5/10 for Coldcard (weight 12)
  • Fund-loss record: 5/10 against 1/10 for Coldcard (weight 11)
Criterion by criterion

Scorecard

Published criteria · weight in points of 8612 of 12 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology

Secure element

weight 6.5 of 86Tie
Coldcard5 out of 10
Foundation Passport5 out of 10

Rebuildable firmware

weight 6.5 of 86Tie
Coldcard10 out of 10
Foundation Passport10 out of 10

Genuine check

by 2 of 10weight 2.9 of 86Foundation Passport leads
Coldcard5 out of 10
Foundation Passport7 out of 10

Checkable keys

weight 2.9 of 86Tie
Coldcard7 out of 10
Foundation Passport7 out of 10

Maker independence

by 4 of 10weight 2.6 of 86Coldcard leads
Coldcard10 out of 10
Foundation Passport6 out of 10

Fund-loss record

by 4 of 10weight 2.6 of 86Foundation Passport leads
Coldcard1 out of 10
Foundation Passport5 out of 10

Score dimensions

weights sum to 86

The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.

Availabilityweight 20 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard14/20Foundation Passport14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Coldcard16.1/30Foundation Passport16.7/30
Foundation Passport leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard2.7/10Foundation Passport2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard3.2/8Foundation Passport3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard5.5/18Foundation Passport5.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose Foundation Passport unless the term Coldcard leads on is the one you are buying.

Pick Coldcard if maker independence matters most — it scores 10/10 to Foundation Passport's 6/10 there (weight 11).

The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .

From the published order

Next best action

If this isn't your case

Other matchups worth comparing

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
  • Key failure: your own keys are made, shown or recovered unsafely.
    Scored by Secure element you can look up · 27% (Coldcard 5/10, Foundation Passport 5/10)
    Scored by Firmware anyone can rebuild and match · 27% (Coldcard 10/10, Foundation Passport 10/10)
    Scored by Proof the device is genuine and unmodified · 12% (Coldcard 5/10, Foundation Passport 7/10)
    Scored by Key creation and signing you can check · 12% (Coldcard 7/10, Foundation Passport 7/10)
    Scored by Sign and recover without the maker · 11% (Coldcard 10/10, Foundation Passport 6/10)
    Scored by Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss · 11% (Coldcard 1/10, Foundation Passport 5/10)
Every failure family that applies to this category is scored, except Information failure, which the provider pages show as a fact.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Foundation Passport scores 2 points above Coldcard, led by genuine check and fund-loss record. Published scores, out of 100: Coldcard 66 (rank 11 of 23 hardware wallets), Foundation Passport 68 (rank 9 of 23).

Related pages

Go deeper

Trust & process
Individual reviews
Other comparisons
Written and reviewed by Founder
Reviewed Next review by Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed

Reviewed means both products compared here was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.

Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.

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