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Bitcoin Wallet Cards

🔍 Last analysed 19th May 2022 . Provided private keys Not functioning anymore
6th December 2017

Jump to verdict 

Do your own research!

Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

If you find something we should include, you can create an issue or edit this analysis yourself and create a merge request for your changes.

The Analysis 

Information about this product online is scarce, especially since it has a generic name. The official website is empty besides a header:

PHLsystems
-one step ahead-

Here is a link to its page on Amazon. The Bitcoin Wallet Card is listed as “currently unavailable.”

  • The safest way to store a crypto currency
  • Both keys on the card
  • No log, no fees when 3rd party

The product description states that the product is recommended for the “Bitcoin Blockchain” as well as Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

This controller is recommended as well as for Bitcoin Blockchain as well as for the bitcoin cash coins.

We also found a Litecoin card wallet on sale by the same brand. Both product descriptions advertise card wallets with pre-generated private and public keys:

The safest way to store a cryptocurrency is a wallet (crypto purse) where you have both keys (public and private key).
The public key is used to receive the coins, the private key is used to send them.
Online services where you create a wallet do not provide a private key. If this online service is no longer available,
falls victim to a hacker attack or suffers a hardware error, you will no longer be able to access your coins.
A waterproof PVC plastic card with both keys (as a number/letter combination AND QR code) is the safest method.
The private key is covered with a scratch surface. There are NO coins on the card upon delivery.
The “account balance” of the card can be viewed via the blockchain of the respective currency.
To ensure maximum security, the cards are generated using an offline computer and printed using dye-sublimation technology.
After each finished print, both keys are destroyed by an automated script. This means that each card is unique and cannot be restored.

Both of these products, as well as the provider’s website, are unavailable. There is little sign they will ever make a return. It is safe to assume that they can be sorted as defunct.

(dg)

Verdict Explained

The device gets delivered with private keys as defined by the provider!

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

Provided Keys!

Are the keys never shared with the provider?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Provided private keys".

The best hardware wallet cannot guarantee that the provider deleted the keys if the private keys were put onto the device by them in the first place.

There is no way of knowing if the provider took a copy in the process. If they did, all funds controlled by those devices are potentially also under the control of the provider and could be moved out of the client’s control at any time at the provider’s discretion.

But we also ask:

Defunct!

Is the product still supported by the still existing provider?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Not functioning anymore".

Discontinued products or worse, products of providers that are not active anymore, are problematic, especially if they were not formerly reproducible and well audited to be self-custodial following open standards. If the provider hasn’t answered inquiries for a year but their server is still running or similar circumstances might get this verdict, too.