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name: bitcoin-hardware-passport description: | Foundation Passport: Passport Core is the QR-only airgap HW wallet - no USB connectivity for signing, camera + microSD only. Passport Prime (GA 2026) is the connected KeyOS security platform. Open-source firmware. USE WHEN: integrating Passport, designing strict airgap flows. allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob

Foundation Passport

Foundation's line-up has two devices as of September 2026, though only Prime is sold on foundation.xyz today. Passport Core is the airgapped Bitcoin wallet whose distinguishing feature is NO USB data port for signing - all comms via QR codes + microSD. Passport Prime is a connected security platform and is not airgapped. Everything below describes Passport Core unless it names Prime.

Product line (as of September 2026)

Device	Role	Transport
Passport Core	Airgapped Bitcoin signer	QR + microSD only
Passport Prime	Bitcoin + 2FA + FIDO + file vault	USB-C data, NFC, Bluetooth, QR

Both pair with Envoy, the shared mobile companion app.

Passport Core

"Passport" was renamed Passport Core on 2025-03-17 (Foundation's post "Passport is now Passport Core"). This was a rename of the shipping airgapped signer so it could live alongside Prime - not a new hardware revision; the same post added a Stealth colorway next to Classic.

Firmware lives in Foundation-Devices/passport2; latest release v2.3.11 (December 2025), with v2.4.0-beta-1 tagged. Core keeps its own docs section on docs.foundation.xyz ("Airgapped security, fully open source and assembled in the USA"). As of September 2026 the foundation.xyz shop page fronts Passport Prime and does not list Passport Core.

Hardware history: Founder's Edition (2021), then Batch 2 (2022+).

Passport Prime

Announced December 2024, shipped to pre-order customers in March 2026, and opened to all buyers on 2026-05-21. Credit-card-sized: 3.5" IPS touchscreen under Gorilla Glass, Microchip SAMA5D2 security processor plus secure element, 1100 mAh battery, 50 GB encrypted storage, auto-erase after 10 PIN attempts, assembled in the USA. Listed at EUR 376.95 on foundation.xyz as of September 2026.

Runs KeyOS, an open-source Rust microkernel OS (Foundation-Devices/KeyOS, binaries in KeyOS-Releases); 1.4.0 shipped 2026-09-04 via Envoy (the KeyOS-Releases repo still tops out at 1.3.1 and prerelease 1.4.0-beta3 as of September 2026). Board files are open too (Foundation-Devices/Passport-Prime-Hardware).

Beyond Bitcoin signing it stores TOTP 2FA codes, acts as a FIDO security key, and holds an encrypted file vault; backups use NFC keycards. QuantumLink is its post-quantum-encrypted Bluetooth link to Envoy (ML-KEM + ChaCha20-Poly1305 over a dedicated BLE chip).

Prime is not a QR-only airgap device: USB-C carries data and Bluetooth/NFC are live. Do not carry Passport Core's threat model over to it.

Operation

• Wallet generates PSBT on phone/computer.
• User displays PSBT as animated QR on screen.
• Passport reads QR via camera.
• Passport displays signed PSBT as animated QR.
• Wallet reads it back.

For larger PSBTs: SD card transport.

Backup

• 24-word BIP39 seed.
• Optional 25th-word passphrase.
• microSD encrypted backup.

Open-source

Fully open: firmware, hardware schematics. Audit-friendly.

Compatible wallets

Wallets supporting BCUR / animated QR airgap:

• Sparrow (excellent integration).
• Specter Desktop.
• Nunchuk.
• BlueWallet (limited).
• Foundation Envoy (mobile companion app).

Compared

Aspect	Passport Core	Coldcard Q	SeedSigner
Airgap method	QR + microSD only	QR / microSD / NFC	QR only
USB	None	USB-C	None (DIY)
Display	Touchscreen	Touchscreen	Small (DIY)
Build	Polished commercial	Polished	DIY hardware
Price	High	High	Low (DIY parts)

Common issues

• QR scan failures — large PSBTs slow to transmit; use SD card for big multi-input txs.
• Microsd FAT32 only.
• Passphrase: separate from seed; easy to lose.

See also

• coldcard/SKILL.md
• seedsigner/SKILL.md
• jade/SKILL.md
• psbt-flows/SKILL.md