“Can a self-custodial hardware wallet company become the primary spending interface for on-chain stablecoins without sacrificing user sovereignty?”
Tangem was founded in 2017 as a Swiss hardware company making NFC-based smartcard crypto wallets, competing on self-custody and security. In 2026, Tangem launched Tangem Pay — a virtual Visa card product that allows users to spend USDC on the Polygon network directly from their self-custodial hardware wallet without converting to fiat first. This pivot moves Tangem from a pure hardware/wallet product into embedded finance, integrating KYC (via Paera LLC and Sumsub), stablecoin payments infrastructure (via Rain/Signify Holdings), and a Visa card issuance layer — while explicitly preserving wallet non-custody.
Tangem discloses Rain as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Tangem does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Rain.
Tangem's crypto products run on Rain.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 4 layers in Tangem's stack: Banking / BaaS (Rain); Card issuing (Rain); Card network (Visa); Crypto (Rain).
Tangem is founded in 2017 and headquartered in Zug, Switzerland.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Tangem and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.