Coldcard Q

The COLDCARD Q is Coinkite's flagship Bitcoin-only hardware wallet — the most advanced device in the COLDCARD family and the choice of Bitcoin professional traders, PSBT power users, multisig operators and exchange custodians. Built in Toronto, Canada, the Q keeps the same battle-tested dual-secure-element security model as the original COLDCARD and gives you a much larger interface for daily PSBT workflows.

Built for thumbs, not factory floors. The Q's defining feature is its full QWERTY keyboard, paired with a 3.2-inch LCD screen (320×240). Long BIP-39 passphrases, multisig spending-policy labels, secure-note entries and Seed-Vault setup are all vastly faster on a hardware keyboard than on a calculator-style numeric pad. A built-in QR-code scanner with LED illumination lets you capture PSBT QR codes straight off a laptop screen, even in low light.

True air-gap with no compromises. The Q runs on 3× AAA batteries or USB-C, and every data path — USB-C, NFC and dual MicroSD slots — is OFF by default. You can sign PSBTs via QR, MicroSD (SneakerNET) or NFC PushTx tap, and the Q's PCB even lets you irreversibly disable the USB and NFC data lines by cutting a single trace, so even a soldered-in hardware implant cannot exfiltrate over those buses.

Status-flagship security model. Dual secure elements from different vendors (Microchip ATECC608 + Maxim DS28C36B) plus the main microprocessor require a backdoor in all three chips to compromise your funds. Genuine vs. Caution boot lights, anti-phishing PIN words, a "SHOOT THESE" destruction-label and Trick PINs (Duress, Brick-Me, Countdown-to-Brick, Login Countdown, BIP39 Passphrase) defend against both remote and physical coercion. Open-source, reproducible firmware.

Designed for Power Users

• Full QWERTY keyboard for long BIP-39 passphrases, multisig exchange accounts and Seed Vault labeling.
• 3.2-inch LCD screen (320×240) — five times the screen real estate of the Mk-series COLDCARD.
• Built-in QR-code scanner with LED illumination for low-light PSBT capture from any laptop screen.
• Dual MicroSD card slots — push-pull type, not spring-loaded — swap cards thousands of times without wear.
• 3× AAA battery operation for fully wireless, air-gapped use, or USB-C power.
• Multiple colors available to match your style.

Multiple Connection Modes — All OFF by Default

• Built-in QR scanner for pure air-gap capture of PSBT and seed-restore QR codes.
• Dual MicroSD slots (SneakerNET) for air-gapped PSBT signing via SD card round-trip.
• NFC Tap-to-Sign & PushTx with dedicated, secure NFC antenna — single-tap broadcast to a phone.
• USB-C for optional data and power, with USB & NFC data paths irreversibly blockable by cutting the PCB trace.
• Every radio and data port is OFF by default.

Air-Gap End-to-End

• The Q never needs a computer — runs from 3× AAA batteries or USB power.
• Generate the 24-word BIP39 seed with the on-device TRNG, import an existing secret, or use physical dice rolls (99 recommended).
• Sign PSBTs via QR, MicroSD or NFC PushTx — your private keys never leave the device.

Advanced Power-User Features

• Temporary Seed & Seed Vault — temporary secrets held in RAM (wiped on reboot) or stored in encrypted settings (AES-256-CTR with your master seed key).
• Secure Notes & Passwords — password-manager functionality and free-form encrypted text on the device, never on a phone.
• COLDCARD Co-Signing (CCC) — automated multisig wallets protected by user-defined spending-policy keys, allowing programmatic custody rules.
• Key Teleport — secure inter-device key mobility workflows.

Trick PIN — Anti-Coercion Layer

• Duress PIN unlocks a separate, plausible wallet derived from your BIP39 words but unreachable back to your real funds.
• Brick Me PIN permanently destroys the dual secure element on entry, rendering the Q worthless.
• Countdown to Brick covertly bricks (or merely wipes) the device after a forced delay.
• Login Countdown enforces a wait before re-entering your PIN correctly.
• BIP39 Passphrase (25th word) with unlimited hidden wallets, made fast to enter by the QWERTY keyboard.

Dual Secure Element Key Storage

• Unlike wallets that trust the main microprocessor with the seed, the COLDCARD Q stores the BIP39 master secret across two secure elements from different vendors: the Microchip ATECC608 and the Maxim DS28C36B, plus the main MCU.
• For funds to be compromised, a backdoor would need to exist across all three chips — an extraordinarily high bar against supply-chain attacks.
• The secure elements also enforce PIN retry limits and protect against brute-force attacks.

USB & NFC Data Block (Hardware-Enforceable)

• The Q's PCB trace for the USB and NFC data paths can be irreversibly severed with a knife, permanently disabling those data buses.
• The Q retains its QR and MicroSD air-gap workflows after the cut, so your keys remain exportable only over QR/MicroSD.
• This is a degenerate-high-security setup for users who want to eliminate the radio data plane of the Q entirely.

Genuine vs. Caution Lights

• Coinkite signs its firmware with a factory key. On boot, every byte of flash memory and the firmware signature are verified, and a green or red status light is set.
• The light's circuitry is dedicated hardware tied directly to a secure element — a rogue software routine cannot override it.
• The circuit lives on the exposed top surface of the device so any physical tampering to defeat the light is visible.

Anti-Phishing Words at Every Login

• The PIN is split into two halves (e.g. 1234-5678). After entering 1234, the Q shows two unique words derived from secrets inside the secure element.
• Those words are unique per PIN prefix and per device — a cloned or trojan-horse COLDCARD cannot reproduce them.
• You memorize the words and check them before entering the second half of the PIN every single login.

Physical Security & Destruction

• The PCB is carefully designed to raise the cost of secure-element probing.
• The clear-case option lets you visually inspect for any hardware implant a maid could have inserted.
• There is no factory reset — if you forget your COLDCARD PIN there is no recovery path.
• Marked "SHOOT THESE" points guide effective physical destruction when it's time to retire the device.

Trick PIN Defenses

• Duress PIN unlocks a separate wallet derived from your BIP39 words but unreachable back to your real wallet — usable as a plausible decoy if you prefund it.
• Brick Me PIN permanently destroys the dual secure element on entry, rendering the Q worthless.
• Countdown to Brick enforces a covert time delay then bricks (or merely wipes) the device.
• Login Countdown enforces a wait before any PIN attempt — you re-enter your PIN correctly after a forced delay (minutes/hours/days).
• BIP39 Passphrase (25th word) with unlimited hidden wallets, made fast to enter by the QWERTY keyboard.

Coinkite is a Canadian bitcoin-hardware company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Coinkite has been a Bitcoin-native brand since the earliest days of consumer hardware wallets and is most famous for the COLDCARD family — purpose-built, Bitcoin-only signing devices engineered around air-gapped PSBT workflows, dual secure elements and anti-coercion features like the Duress PIN.

Coinkite publishes the COLDCARD firmware open-source. The CC firmware is reproducible, the secure-element interactions are documented, and the hardware is sold without KYC — Coinkite never asks who you are or which serial number you bought. The company sells directly through store.coinkite.com and ships worldwide, often from regional fulfilment hubs so customers avoid import friction.

The COLDCARD Q is Coinkite's flagship — the most advanced Bitcoin hardware wallet in the COLDCARD family. It keeps the same security model as the original COLDCARD (dual secure elements, anti-phishing words, optional NFC and USB data blocks, Trick-PIN coercion defenses) while giving the power user a much larger interface: a 3.2-inch LCD screen, a full QWERTY keyboard for long BIP-39 passphrases, a built-in QR-code scanner with LED illumination, dual MicroSD card slots and triple-A battery operation.