• Who Should Buy a Seed Backup Device
• What’s a Seed Backup?
• Cryptotag Basics
• Price
• Unboxing & Contents
• Device Description
• Setup
• Character Limitations
• Cryptotag Support
• Rating: 4.8/10
• FAQ

Steel wallets are a crucial part of any hodler’s backup setup.

But getting the right backup device is just as crucial. Bad backup devices really compromise your security and result in lost coins, which defeats the purpose of using them in the first place.

Long story short: Cryptotag’s design makes it unsuitable for long-term hodlers concerned about the safety of their funds. Cryptotags are too inflexible and make too many compromises to make them a truly recommendable seed backup device.

Who Should Buy a Seed Backup Device

• Crypto investors who want to store their own bitcoin
• Crypto investors who need a wallet backup
• Crypto investors who require financial independence

What’s a Seed Backup?

Many who are new to HODLing bitcoin are aware of the security that hardware wallets provide. Once they are confident their funds are secure, however, they may be missing a critical backup step to ensure the longevity of their mnemonic seed phrase.

Through the years, the horror stories of lost backups have become legendary and the marketplace responded with a wide variety of backup devices. The demand for fire and waterproof (as well as other natural or manmade forces) methods to store mnemonic seed phrases, private keys and other information was clear. This has been presented with several approaches, usually by committing this vital data into metal.

Cryptotag Basics

Cryptotag is a Dutch company which offers just one product line: the Cryptotag metal wallet.

This wallet backup device comes in two versions: Zeus and Thor. We’re reviewing the Thor model today, the most expensive of the two. For more information on the base model, check out our review of the Cryptotag Zeus.

In this review, we’ll take a look at some of the most important considerations when buying a metal seed phrase backup device. We’ll cover how much it costs, how easy it is to use, any notable drawbacks, and how good the support is that’s available to users after their purchase.

Price

The Cryptotag Thor - the model under review here - retails for $350.00. This makes it one of the most expensive metal seed phrase backup devices on the market, over three times more expensive than the Billfodl.

The Cryptotag Thor ships with FedEX Priority Mail, though you’ll have to pay $15.00 for this if you’re only ordering one product (as most prospective buyers will be). Free shipping only kicks in with the purchase of two or more products.

This is a strange policy. If you buy two Cryptotag Zeuses, you get free shipping, despite the order total being nearly $100 less than the Cryptotag Thor. It’s inconsistent, and means anyone purchasing the Cryptotag Thor has to factor in postage costs of nearly 5% of the total.

Unboxing & Contents

When you open the box, you’ll see the two Cryptotag plates clipped together, a hammer, an anvil to hold the metal plates while stamping them, the letter stamps you’ll use to punch your seed phrase into these plates, as well as a bitholder to hold these stamping bits in place.

Removing the plates from the box, you’ll find a set of earplugs and a box of matches hidden underneath. The matches are provided so you can burn your seed phrase after punching it into the metal. It’s a bit of a gimmicky touch, but who’s going to turn down an unexpected freebie?

Device Description

The Cryptotag is made from “space-grade” titanium, though Cryptotag doesn’t specify exactly which grade of metal this is or how it compares to the 316 Marine Grade Stainless Steel used in other wallets like the Billfodl. Additionally, all grades of titanium are used in aeronautical engineering, so it’s a bit of a misleading claim.

The Cryptotag plates measure 11.3 x 6.8cm (4.44 x 2.67 in). They are each 6mm (0.24 in) thick and together weigh 210g (7.4 oz).

Overall, the Cryptotag is solid. The brushed titanium is nice, though the clips that hold the two plates together are not as tight as they could be. There’s nothing fastening them in place, so if over time they loosen there’s the risk of your plates coming apart. It’s not much use to have 12 out of the full 24 words of a seed phrase.

Setup

The Cryptotag Thor is somewhat unique among premium metal wallet backups in that you don’t slot in letters to form your seed phrase. Instead, there are 24 engraved spaces, broken down into four separate boxes.

To commit your seed phrase to the metal, you punch in the first four letters of each word. Four letters is enough, as the BIP39 wordlist ensures that each word can be identified by just these characters with no possibility for ambiguity.

Keep in mind that there’s no way to change or rearrange your seed phrase (as there is with a Billfodl) so once you make a mark, it’s there forever.

This also means that you can never remove your seed phrase from the metal plate. With a different type of steel wallet, you could simply remove the letters or jumble them.

But with the Cryptotag, you’d have to destroy the entire plate completely.

This is a major limitation. You’ll have to completely empty any wallet if you’re no longer using the Cryptotag, as anyone who gets their hands on it will have full access to the funds in the wallet.

Character Limitations

Since it only has space for the first four characters of each word of a seed phrase, the Cryptotag can only store BIP-39 mnemonic seed phrases and cannot back up private keys.

Cryptotag Support

Cryptotag has a couple of videos on their website that explain the setup process. There’s also a short FAQ, but no visible way to get in contact if something goes wrong with your Cryptotag or if you have any questions.

This is not ideal. While a metal wallet backup may be intended to be a “set and forget” type of product, it’s always reassuring to have support available when you need it.

Rating: 4.8/10

While the material of the Cryptotag may be sufficient to survive high temperatures and crushing forces, these advantages are quickly swept away because of other design flaws.

The fact that you can’t rearrange a seed phrase on the Cryptotag means that each metal plate is single-use only. It also means that you have to either empty out any wallets you’re no longer using the Cryptotag for, or treat each plate like a hot wallet forever.

The extremely high price of the Cryptotag Thor (and the fact that you still don’t get free shipping even after laying out $350.00) means that it’s impossible to say it’s a good value product.

We give the Cryptotag Thor a score of 4.8 out of 10.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a Billfodl instead. It is consistently our top pick for wallet backup products year after year!

FAQ

Is Cryptotag Thor safe?

The Cryptotag is made of titanium, which is less dense than the steel used in other physical wallets. The Cryptotag might suit a very specific niche, but its design flaws means it’s impossible to recommend to the average hodler looking to secure their crypto.

Which is best - Billfodl, Cryptosteel, or Cryptotag?

Billfodl is widely considered the gold standard for stainless steel wallet backups. That being said, the Cobo is cheaper. The Cryptotag is less safe than both the Billfodl and the Cryptosteel, and much more expensive. The Billfodl is safe, strong, and affordable.