Cardware Wallet Official Thread

[Cardware Wallet]

CARDWARE WALLET OFFICIAL THREAD

Hey all, we would like to welcome you to Cardware Wallet
 
Cardware Wallet is a 100% air-gapped, offline, open-source hardware wallet provider. Our flagship Cardware BTC-Only device offers secure, affordable Bitcoin storage and management.

Features:

For only $77.00, Cardware features an EAL6+ secure element and a microcontroller with read/write protection — all housed in a transparent case that clearly demonstrates its air-gapped design (only power and ground are connected). Device also includes user generated entropy (Hashed Video or Dice Rolls), 24 word passphrase, 4-8 digit pin, HD wallet support and Multisig support (including link based sharing).

·     100% Air-gapped and Offline
·     EAL6+ Certified Secure Element
·     Microcontroller Read/Write Protection
·     Web Accessible (can manage your BTC with any device with a browser)
·     Full Multisig Support (with link-based multisig signing for remote contribution)
·     Firmware Non-Upgradable
·     No Data Connections via USB-C, Wifi, Bluetooth or NFC
·     True Entropy Private Key Generation
 
Cardware Wallet supports QR code scanning of PSBTs via our web app, providing watch-only access on any browser-enabled device and enabling offline signing using any power source. Additionally, we offer an NPM package to help developers integrate self-custody solutions into their web platforms.

Our solution is compatible with various software wallets that support PSBTs, complemented by our open-source PSBT-to-QR converter (coming soon). Cardware Wallet also supports multisig operations for up to 256 signers. Our solution enables offline, air-gapped multisig signing to keep private keys securely isolated, while also supporting link-based multisig signing for remote contribution. This flexibility provides a robust and secure framework for managing multisignature transactions.

Website & Social Media:

Website:  https://cardwarewallet.com/ 
Blog: https://www.cardwarewallet.com/blog
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CardwareWallet
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cardwarewallet 
Twitter: https://x.com/cardwarewallet
Telegram: https://t.me/cardwarewallet 
Discord: https://discord.gg/dgDXR85CXB 
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardware-wallet

Cardware Documentation:

Cardware Github: https://github.com/cardware-wallet 
Shop - BTC Only Device: https://www.cardwarewallet.com/btcproducts
Get Started: https://cardwarewallet.com/start
Cardware Wallet docs: https://docs.cardwarewallet.com
NPM Documents: https://docs.cardwarewallet.com/cardware-wallet-documentation/npm-package 
Cardware BTC NPM Package 🛠️ https://github.com/cardware-wallet/cardware-btc

[Cardware Wallet]

Please find more replies to FAQs raised in other threads below:

 I can't find such page on github, either. All I found is here but there is no relevant source code there.

Our Github is now live and can be viewed here: https://github.com/cardware-wallet.

I notice one of their feature is "Microcontroller Read/Write Protection", which makes me wonder how secure it is when similar feature on USB drive/SD card have rather weak security.

It is important to note that there is no data transfer through any form of USB/SD card. The device operates in a fully air-gapped design through the use of QR codes. The "Microcontroller Read/Write Protection" means that users cannot modify or inject malicious code into the device, as seen in the example of Dark Skippy.

Despite being air-gapped, I have mixed feelings about the fact that there won't be any firmware updates ^{[e.g. bad for future vulnerabilities (if there'd be any)]}.

There is no traditional data transfer mechanism on our Bitcoin only devices, and in turn no way to update firmware. This is by design The device is used to sign PSBTs in a 100% air-gapped manner.  It accepts PSBT's as valid inputs, signs them, and produces QR codes of the signed transaction ready to be broadcasted. Being non-upgradable also reduces the risks against malicious firmware attacks (Dark Skippy etc).
 
Even if the Bitcoin blockchain does a hard fork, older Cardware devices will still be able to sign PSBT's as signing (BTC UTXO's) is specific to the receiving address (eg Segwit address gets Segwit signing, Taproot address gets Taproot signing). In other words there is never a scenario where a device stops being able to sign PSBTs.
 
On many hardware wallets, updates to software on an internet-connected companion device (such as Ledger Live) can require firmware updates on the wallet itself due to the two-way communication between the devices. With our devices, however, that isn’t necessary. We can upgrade the web wallet—which functions in a watch-only mode—without needing to change the hardware code, as long as the data sent to the device follows the expected format (using PSBT for Bitcoin and Smart Contract data packages for EVM).

Their website seems to be outdated. Today is "February 21, 2025,", but footer on their website still says "© 2024 Cardware Wallet (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved.".

Thank you, fixed.

I can't find anything about Cardware on YouTube (the name is very reminiscent of coldcard, sometimes even confusing me), but on X (https://x.com/cardwarewallet) there are some very short videos demonstrating the device in action.

The team has been working hard in building out some new content for everyone to see and will upload it to YT as soon as its been completed. We have ensured there is enough content to validate the device in our how to guides.

The youtube is available here: www.youtube.com/@CardwareWallet

I am not a fan of the transparent case or the devices' incompatibility with other software wallets. The Jade has it as well and so does Coldcard but the colors are darker which doesn't make it so revealing.

As mentioned above, Cardware is compatible with soft wallets that support PSBTs. Regarding the transparent casing, this was done by design to further emphasize an open and transparent product. We believe in the ethos of Don’t Trust, Verify and wanted to show its users what makes up the device. This transparent casing also allows you to verify that the data lines are disconnected and that only power and ground pins are connected. With a team coming from TradFi, Banking, Gaming, Blockchain, Compliance and more, the thought of having a Gameboy-esq looking device really excited us.

The shipping costs are as expensive as the device. I like that they use BTCPay for crypto payments.

The shipping fees are standard international shipping rates. We ship from Cape Town, South Africa. While these fees remain outside of our control, its important to note that even with the most expensive shipping fees we remain cheaper than most of our competitors devices alone (excl. shipping).

[dkbit98]

Welcome to bitcointalk forum, it was a good move to open official topic here.
I saw you just released Cardware github page with firmware source, now we just need to see if code can be reproduced by anyone.
Since you already saw topic I created and you didn't address what I wrote, I will repeat that I think charging so much for Cardware warranty is not cool.

[satscraper]

 I can't find such page on github, either. All I found is here but there is no relevant source code there.

Our Github is now live and can be viewed here: https://github.com/cardware-wallet.

Nice and quick action from your part.

CARDWARE WALLET OFFICIAL THREAD

As far as I see it   this HW has to be paired first with such widely spread  software clients such as Sparrow, Electrum, Bluewallet etc. to communicate with them  via PSBT,  Is this correct?

It  would be nice to see the tendency of their developers in adding  such pairing functionality to their products.  Is there anything you need to do to encourage their interest in your product?

[ABCbits]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I notice one of their feature is "Microcontroller Read/Write Protection", which makes me wonder how secure it is when similar feature on USB drive/SD card have rather weak security.

It is important to note that there is no data transfer through any form of USB/SD card. The device operates in a fully air-gapped design through the use of QR codes. The "Microcontroller Read/Write Protection" means that users cannot modify or inject malicious code into the device, as seen in the example of Dark Skippy.

I see, although i mentioned USB drive/SD card as comparison. I actually was talking about accessing the memory/NAND flash directly[1].

[1] https://hackaday.com/2012/09/20/reading-bare-nand-flash-chips-with-a-microcontroller/

[SFR10]

There is no traditional data transfer mechanism on our Bitcoin only devices, and in turn no way to update firmware. This is by design

Since you only mentioned the Bitcoin-only devices as air-gapped devices, am I correct in assuming that the upcoming device that also supports EVM-compatible assets isn't fully air-gapped?

Being non-upgradable also reduces the risks against malicious firmware attacks (Dark Skippy etc).

You have a point, but what if the code used in Cardware turns out to be vulnerable to a new attack in a few years? What will be the best course of action for your users at that time?

web wallet—which functions in a watch-only mode

Based on the screenshots of the web wallet, it appears that there's a send button and I'd like to know its true function.

[Pmalek]

Since you only mentioned the Bitcoin-only devices as air-gapped devices, am I correct in assuming that the upcoming device that also supports EVM-compatible assets isn't fully air-gapped?

The explanation on the website is that the BTC/EVM device will also be airgapped. I doubt they will experiment with something 'semi-airgapped.' If it's not fully airgapped then it's not airgapped at all. I think OP is only talking about the BTC device because that's the one that is available at the moment and the BTC/EVM HW is yet to be released. 

You have a point, but what if the code used in Cardware turns out to be vulnerable to a new attack in a few years? What will be the best course of action for your users at that time?

Since there is no way to upgrade the software, you would have to stop using it and move all your bitcoin to a different device. The worst thing I can think of is Cardware generating seeds with weak entropy that could be brute forced.

Based on the screenshots of the web wallet, it appears that there's a send button and I'd like to know its true function.

It's probably for broadcasting the transactions you signed with the Cardware. The Cardware works with PSBTs.

[Lucius]

Another hardware wallet is always a good thing, especially if it's air-gapped and competitively priced. I went to see how much it actually costs, and just by selecting the euro as the currency, it shows me about EUR 120, to which at least customs and VAT costs should be added (if we take into account that shipping is already included). In my case, it is at least EUR 150, I assume that it is more expensive if you choose the 2-year warranty.

What caught my eye is the comparison with other HW, which is honestly a little strange to me because I have not seen it on any website of the HW manufacturer yet. It would make some sense to make comparisons with other similar devices (air-gapped), but certainly not with some who is not air-gapped, but has the option to share seed with third parties.

[dkbit98]

You have a point, but what if the code used in Cardware turns out to be vulnerable to a new attack in a few years? What will be the best course of action for your users at that time?

It's probably going to be the same thing like with many c0dldcard devices that became unfixable and unsafe to use, even with ability for firmware to be updated.
C0ldcard is not the only manufacturer with graveyard of many defunct unsafe devices, ledger joined them in team no-open-source, and there are probably many others.
If I was in charge of Cardware I would enable offline firmware update if possible.

[Cardware Wallet]

Thank you for the wonderful feedback both in this thread and DMs. Please find below our response. The team is currently working very hard on our BTC Multisig (NPM packages completed and in internal testing) allowing for full remote and air-gapped signing of multisigs on BTC, this is inclusive of our software wallet tooling (like Sparrow). Furthermore our EVM units are busy with internal testing (100% air-gapped like all our devices) and we are thrilled with the speed of signing and broadcasting (roughly 2 seconds). Its important to note that our BTC-only version and EVM run on different code bases and are completely separate.

Since you already saw topic I created and you didn't address what I wrote, I will repeat that I think charging so much for Cardware warranty is not cool.

Thank you for the feedback, this was designed to ensure users have access to a full replacement in the event of any issues. However your point is valid and we are busy reviewing this. Updates will be provided in future.

As far as I see it   this HW has to be paired first with such widely spread  software clients such as Sparrow, Electrum, Bluewallet etc. to communicate with them  via PSBT,  Is this correct?

The Cardware Wallet only pairs with the watch-only wallet front end (which is also open sourced). We have already built, and are actively testing our open source tooling for wallets like Sparrow etc. These tools will ensure full support of most PSBT software wallets.

Ideally we will focus on full integration, however in the interim we have the tools to ensure compatibility.

Since you only mentioned the Bitcoin-only devices as air-gapped devices, am I correct in assuming that the upcoming device that also supports EVM-compatible assets isn't fully air-gapped?

No, all of our units are 100% air-gapped with zero compromise in this regard. We believe any device housing your private key should never be exposed online. The EVM unit does however have a separate code base to ensure no overlap with our BTC-Only version and will be fully open-sourced.

You have a point, but what if the code used in Cardware turns out to be vulnerable to a new attack in a few years? What will be the best course of action for your users at that time?

While we believe this doesn’t pose a risk to any future signing (ie. The devices should always work) it does also present another transparency issue on our side. Due to the air-gapped design advanced users are unable to verify the firmware. This is why the team has made the decision to upgrade the hardware with an SD card in future for the more advanced users allowing full firmware updates and the ability to verify firmware versions. This is a simple addition on our end, but is something required to ensure full transparency and verifiability.

Based on the screenshots of the web wallet, it appears that there's a send button and I'd like to know its true function.

The front end simply calls the NPM packages, which can be found here: https://docs.cardwarewallet.com/cardware-wallet-documentation/npm-package

Another hardware wallet is always a good thing, especially if it's air-gapped and competitively priced. I went to see how much it actually costs, and just by selecting the euro as the currency, it shows me about EUR 120, to which at least customs and VAT costs should be added (if we take into account that shipping is already included).

We are constantly upgrading our services to include cheaper or alternative shipping options. Unfortunately, these prices are outside of our control and dictated entirely by DHL. We are currently onboarding a broad range of other providers.

It's probably going to be the same thing like with many c0dldcard devices that became unfixable and unsafe to use, even with ability for firmware to be updated.
C0ldcard is not the only manufacturer with graveyard of many defunct unsafe devices, ledger joined them in team no-open-source, and there are probably many others.
If I was in charge of Cardware I would enable offline firmware update if possible.

We agree completely, thank you for the feedback. While our entire focus is ensuring full backwards compatibility with our devices, we want to service a major request about transparency. This is why we will be releasing an SD card version in the near future allowing more advanced users to not only code their own devices, but also to verify firmware data. 100% security or nothing.

Please keep track of our socials for more information about our future releases and products: https://linktr.ee/cardwarewallet

[dkbit98]

For anyone interested in Cardware wallet there is a chance to win one of this devices with lifetime supply, or $500 and $1000 reward paid in Bitcoin in Cardware Genesis Giveaway campaign.

You can find more details about that on their blog page:
https://www.cardwarewallet.com/blog/genesis-launch-giveaway

Genesis Giveaway page is available on Cardware website, you need to enter your email address and twitter handle:
https://www.cardwarewallet.com/genesisgiveaway

Note that shipping of devices is paid by the lucky winners.
Good luck.