CoolWallet vs Keycard Shell Keycard Shell leads by 25 points.
Keycard Shell scores 25 points above CoolWallet, led by secure element, rebuildable firmware, and genuine check. CoolWallet ranks #21 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.
COCoolWallet44
vs
Keycard Shell69
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #21 and #6 of 23
Keycard Shell scores 25 points above CoolWallet, led by secure element, rebuildable firmware, and genuine check.
COCoolWallet #21 of 2344
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 4 of 6 published criteria; CoolWallet on 0. The terms sum to the gap.
TermKeycard ShellCoolWalletWeightPoints
Secure element10/103/106.5+11.8for Keycard Shell+6.0 of 32
Rebuildable firmware7/104/106.5+5.1for Keycard Shell+2.6 of 32
Genuine check7/102/102.9+3.7for Keycard Shell+1.9 of 32
Maker independence10/104/102.6+4.1for Keycard Shell+2.1 of 32
Net of the terms+24.7
Reproduced gap+24.7
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below6944+25.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
Keycard ShellScore 69An air-gapped QR signer with a screen around an EAL6+ Keycard — firmware rebuilt and matched, €129Strength: Secure element you can look up — 10/10Watch-out: First shipped in 2025, so it has a short record in buyers' handsCoolWalletScore 44Two NFC cards at $69 — no screen, signed through the CoolWallet appStrength: Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss — 5/10Watch-out: The Go has no screen, so you confirm transactions on your phone, not on the device
Quick facts
At a glance
2 of 5 rows read the same for both.
FactCoolWalletKeycard Shell
One-time priceSnapshotCoolWallet Go (2 Cards Set) at $69.00 on https://www.coolwallet.io/products/coolwallet-go, 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 fitSnapshotglobalus, europe, global
Custody modelEditorialSelf-custody: the keys stay on the deviceSelf-custody: the keys stay on the device
Security postureSnapshotSecure element, no listed certificate; partly open source; no air-gapped signing.Secure element, EAL6+ certified; partly open source; air-gapped signing.
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
CO
CoolWallet
44#21 of 23
Pick it when
CoolWallet leads Keycard Shell on no published criterion and no score dimension — pick it only if a fact outside the score (country, funding rail, custody) decides for you.
Strength
Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss — 5/10
Tradeoff
The Go has no screen, so you confirm transactions on your phone, not on the device
Keycard Shell
69#6 of 23
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Keycard Shell if secure element matters most — it scores 10/10 to CoolWallet's 3/10 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?
COCoolWallet
CoolWallet leads Keycard Shell on no published criterion
Choose it only if something outside the published criteria decides for you — your country, a funding rail, or custody.
CoolWalletScore 44Two NFC cards at $69 — no screen, signed through the CoolWallet appStrength: Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss — 5/10Watch-out: The Go has no screen, so you confirm transactions on your phone, not on the device
Keycard ShellLeads
Choose Keycard Shell if secure element matters most
Secure element: 10/10 against 3/10 for CoolWallet (weight 27)
Rebuildable firmware: 7/10 against 4/10 for CoolWallet (weight 27)
Genuine check: 7/10 against 2/10 for CoolWallet (weight 12)
Keycard ShellScore 69An air-gapped QR signer with a screen around an EAL6+ Keycard — firmware rebuilt and matched, €129Strength: Secure element you can look up — 10/10Watch-out: First shipped in 2025, so it has a short record in buyers' hands
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 7 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Keycard Shell leads
CoolWallet3/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell10/10 out of 10
Rebuildable firmware
by 3 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Keycard Shell leads
CoolWallet4/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell7/10 out of 10
Genuine check
by 5 of 10weight 2.9 of 86Keycard Shell leads
CoolWallet2/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell7/10 out of 10
Checkable keys
weight 2.9 of 86Tie
CoolWallet0/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell0/10 out of 10
Maker independence
by 6 of 10weight 2.6 of 86Keycard Shell leads
CoolWallet4/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell10/10 out of 10
Fund-loss record
weight 2.6 of 86Tie
CoolWallet5/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell5/10 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
CoolWallet14/20Keycard Shell14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
CoolWallet7.5/30Keycard Shell17/30
Keycard Shell leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
CoolWallet2.7/10Keycard Shell2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
CoolWallet3.2/8Keycard Shell3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
CoolWallet5.5/18Keycard Shell5.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Keycard Shell unless the term CoolWallet leads on is the one you are buying.
CoolWallet leads Keycard Shell on no published criterion and no score dimension — pick it only if a fact outside the score (country, funding rail, custody) decides for you.
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% (CoolWallet 3/10, Keycard Shell 10/10)
Scored by Firmware anyone can rebuild and match · 27% (CoolWallet 4/10, Keycard Shell 7/10)
Scored by Proof the device is genuine and unmodified · 12% (CoolWallet 2/10, Keycard Shell 7/10)
Scored by Key creation and signing you can check · 12% (CoolWallet 0/10, Keycard Shell 0/10)
Scored by Sign and recover without the maker · 11% (CoolWallet 4/10, Keycard Shell 10/10)
Scored by Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss · 11% (CoolWallet 5/10, 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 25 points above CoolWallet, led by secure element, rebuildable firmware, and genuine check. Published scores, out of 100: CoolWallet 44 (rank 21 of 23 hardware wallets), Keycard Shell 69 (rank 6 of 23).
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.
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