We discontinued Passport Core, the hardware wallet that helped define QR air-gapping across the industry.
Here’s why.
QR air-gapping is a strong security. But it asks a lot of the user. You’re manually coordinating everything between two disconnected devices. Which device do I start on? Did I miss a step? How do I update firmware? For experienced users, it’s manageable. For everyone else, that friction is the reason they never take self-custody seriously.
We spent years building Passport Core and watching this play out. We knew we couldn’t just iterate on the same approach; we had to rethink the entire connection model.
The question was simple: can we keep the security properties of an air-gap, but make it wireless, without compromising anything?
The answer is QuantumLink, and it’s the reason we built Passport Prime.
QuantumLink is a purpose-built protocol. A separate Bluetooth chip, fully isolated from the security processor, that only ever handles encrypted data. It never sees the contents. All communication uses quantum-resistant cryptography: CRYSTALS-Kyber key exchange and ChaCha20-Poly1305 messaging.
Inside Passport Prime, every app runs sandboxed on KeyOS with its own private keys. No app can access the master key or communicate outside signed, encrypted channels. Even a compromised phone can’t reach Passport Prime.
If you still want QR, NFC, or USB, all are supported. We’re also exploring a full air-gap mode later this year that completely disables the Bluetooth chip. Your security, your choice.
Passport Core remains fully supported, with security updates, usability improvements, and all warranties honored. But Passport Prime is what comes next.
You can read more on our blog post here.