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Head-to-head · Hardware Wallets

Coldcard vs Keycard Shell Keycard Shell leads by 3 points.

Keycard Shell scores 3 points above Coldcard, led by secure element, genuine check, and fund-loss record. Coldcard ranks #11 and Keycard Shell #6 of 23 published hardware wallets. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.

Coldcard66
Keycard Shell69
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #11 and #6 of 23
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot Evidence verified through 6 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-COLDCARD-VS-KEYCARD-SHELL-48d0d333
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

Keycard Shell leads by 3 points

Keycard Shell scores 3 points above Coldcard, led by secure element, genuine check, and fund-loss record.

Coldcard #11 of 2366
Keycard Shell #6 of 2369
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termKeycard Shell leads on 3 of 6 published criteria; Coldcard on 2. The terms sum to the gap.
TermKeycard ShellColdcardWeightPoints
Secure element10/105/106.5+8.4for Keycard Shell+4.3 of 32
Rebuildable firmware7/1010/106.5−5.1for Coldcard−2.6 of 32
Checkable keys0/107/102.9−5.2for Coldcard−2.7 of 32
Genuine check7/105/102.9+1.5for Keycard Shell+0.8 of 32
Fund-loss record5/101/102.6+2.7for Keycard Shell+1.4 of 32
Net of the terms+2.4
Reproduced gap+2.3
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below6966+3.0

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.
FactColdcardKeycard Shell
One-time priceSnapshotCOLDCARD Mk5 at $219 ("Buy Now $219 USD") on https://coldcard.com/mk5, read 1 October 2026.Keycard Shell (with two Keycards) at €129 including VAT (regular €149) on https://keycard.tech/products/keycard-shell, read 1 October 2026; no US dollar list price is published.
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, EAL6+ certified; partly open source; air-gapped signing.
From the published criteria

Which should you pick?

Coldcard

66#11 of 23
Pick it when
Pick Coldcard if rebuildable firmware matters most — it scores 10/10 to Keycard Shell's 7/10 there (weight 27).
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

Keycard Shell

69#6 of 23
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Keycard Shell if secure element matters most — it scores 10/10 to Coldcard's 5/10 there (weight 27).
Strength
Secure element you can look up — 10/10
Tradeoff
First shipped in 2025, so it has a short record in buyers' hands
Self-identify in 10 seconds

Which one is actually for you?

Coldcard

Choose Coldcard if rebuildable firmware matters most

  • Rebuildable firmware: 10/10 against 7/10 for Keycard Shell (weight 27)
  • Checkable keys: 7/10 against 0/10 for Keycard Shell (weight 12)
Keycard ShellLeads

Choose Keycard Shell if secure element matters most

  • Secure element: 10/10 against 5/10 for Coldcard (weight 27)
  • 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

by 5 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Keycard Shell leads
Coldcard5 out of 10
Keycard Shell10 out of 10

Rebuildable firmware

by 3 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Coldcard leads
Coldcard10 out of 10
Keycard Shell7 out of 10

Genuine check

by 2 of 10weight 2.9 of 86Keycard Shell leads
Coldcard5 out of 10
Keycard Shell7 out of 10

Checkable keys

by 7 of 10weight 2.9 of 86Coldcard leads
Coldcard7 out of 10
Keycard Shell0 out of 10

Maker independence

weight 2.6 of 86Tie
Coldcard10 out of 10
Keycard Shell10 out of 10

Fund-loss record

by 4 of 10weight 2.6 of 86Keycard Shell leads
Coldcard1 out of 10
Keycard Shell5 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
Coldcard14/20Keycard Shell14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Coldcard16.1/30Keycard Shell17/30
Keycard Shell leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard2.7/10Keycard Shell2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard3.2/8Keycard Shell3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Coldcard5.5/18Keycard Shell5.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose Keycard Shell unless the term Coldcard leads on is the one you are buying.

Pick Coldcard if rebuildable firmware matters most — it scores 10/10 to Keycard Shell's 7/10 there (weight 27).

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, Keycard Shell 10/10)
    Scored by Firmware anyone can rebuild and match · 27% (Coldcard 10/10, Keycard Shell 7/10)
    Scored by Proof the device is genuine and unmodified · 12% (Coldcard 5/10, Keycard Shell 7/10)
    Scored by Key creation and signing you can check · 12% (Coldcard 7/10, Keycard Shell 0/10)
    Scored by Sign and recover without the maker · 11% (Coldcard 10/10, Keycard Shell 10/10)
    Scored by Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss · 11% (Coldcard 1/10, Keycard Shell 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

Keycard Shell scores 3 points above Coldcard, led by secure element, genuine check, and fund-loss record. Published scores, out of 100: Coldcard 66 (rank 11 of 23 hardware wallets), Keycard Shell 69 (rank 6 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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