As a hardware wallet manufacturer renowned for innovation and security, Tangem has produced over 2,000,000 hardware wallet cards and has maintained a flawless record of zero hacks.
Today, this Swiss company is driving the evolution of cryptocurrency from a mere storage and investment tool into a practical financial solution seamlessly integrated into everyday spending with its new product, Tangem Pay.
01 Product Evolution: From Secure Storage to Seamless Payments
Founded in 2018, Tangem set out to solve the complex and intimidating problem of private key management in crypto self-custody. The company replaced the traditional 24-word mnemonic phrase with an NFC smart card the size of a credit card or a zirconia ceramic ring.
Users simply tap their phone using NFC to set up, send, receive, and stake assets in the Tangem app—all within three minutes.
However, Tangem’s vision goes beyond just "storage." The company believes that crypto assets will never become a true financial solution unless they can be used for everyday expenses. This philosophy directly inspired Tangem Pay.
In November 2025, Tangem announced a partnership with Visa and payment infrastructure provider Paera to launch Tangem Pay. This service allows users to link a virtual Visa card directly to their Tangem wallet app.
02 Core Innovation: How Tangem Pay Works
Tangem Pay’s core mechanism skillfully balances self-custody autonomy with payment convenience. Here’s how it works:
Users deposit USDC on the Polygon network into a special smart contract account linked to Tangem Pay. Funds always remain on-chain, and users retain full ownership.
When making purchases online or at physical merchants, users pay with a virtual Visa card linked to Apple Pay or Google Pay.
At the moment of payment, the system instantly converts the required amount of USDC from the user’s smart contract account into US dollars, settling the transaction via the Visa network.
The key innovation lies in its "dual-key model": users always hold the private key to their assets, while partner Rain holds a separate key solely for authorizing payments. Rain cannot access or move any unspent assets.
03 Security and Privacy: Unshakable Foundations
Security is the cornerstone of all Tangem products. Its hardware wallets feature a secure element chip developed by Samsung Semiconductor, certified to EAL6+ standards, offering top-tier protection against both invasive and non-invasive attacks.
Unlike traditional payment cards, Tangem Pay extends its hardware wallet’s privacy-first philosophy. While payment functionality requires KYC (Know Your Customer) verification, this applies only to the Tangem Pay balance.
The main Tangem wallet remains completely unaffected, preserving full anonymity and decentralization. As Tangem Pay’s CEO puts it, "No one can access the Tangem wallet itself."
04 Market Data and Token Performance
Beyond hardware and payments, the Tangem ecosystem also includes platform-related digital assets.
According to official Tangem data, as of November 28, 2025, the 2025 TOKEN operates on the Solana network.
Its market capitalization is approximately $11,720, with a 24-hour trading volume of about $1.33. Both circulating and maximum supply stand at 1,000,000,000 tokens. When checking these assets on platforms like Gate, investors are advised to always refer to real-time market data.
05 Strategic Positioning and Industry Impact
Every move Tangem makes is guided by clear strategic planning and robust capital support. In 2025, the company secured $8 million in funding led by Shima Capital.
Combined with previous rounds led by SBI Digital Asset Holdings, Tangem’s total funding has reached $23 million, fueling the expansion of its product portfolio.
The launch of Tangem Pay marks a pivotal step in this strategy. The service debuted in late November 2025 across major countries in the US, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific, covering 42 jurisdictions including Australia, Japan, and Singapore.
Plans for a European rollout are set for 2026, aligning with the EU’s MiCA crypto asset market regulations. The company expects active users of this solution to exceed 10 million by the end of 2026.
Industry observers see this product as a breakthrough, resolving a longstanding dilemma: users no longer have to choose between the convenience of fully custodial payments and the hassle of manual conversion for spending.
Tangem Pay combines the autonomy of self-custody wallets with the global reach of the Visa payment network, truly bridging the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.
Looking Ahead
One early tester shared his experience on social media: "Wearing the Tangem Ring, I just tap my phone to pay while shopping. The cashier only saw me use Apple Pay, but I knew I was spending real USDC from my on-chain wallet."
As Tangem Pay’s virtual card rolls out across 42 countries and regions, and with physical cards coming to Europe in 2026, this experiment to connect the crypto world with the real economy is just getting started.
