NGRAVE ZERO

The NGRAVE ZERO is an air-gapped hardware wallet, made in Belgium, that signs transactions by QR code. NGRAVE’s product page lists “No USB, Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi or 4G”, and says the USB-C port is “Only for Wall Charging & Secure Firmware Updates”. It has a 4-inch LCD touchscreen at 480 x 800 pixels, a 640 x 480 camera, a fingerprint sensor and a 1200 mAh battery, and measures 125 x 70 x 13 mm at 214 g. NGRAVE announced it in an April 2020 release that set 26 May 2020 as the launch date. NGRAVE’s shop listed the ZERO at €398 on 14 October 2026, or €498 for the wallet-and-backup combo pack on the same date.

Who is the NGRAVE ZERO for?

It suits people who:

• want to sign only by QR code, with no data cable or radio;
• want a fingerprint as well as a PIN: NGRAVE says the fingerprint is used to “unlock your device, and sign transactions in combination with a solid 8-digit PIN code”;
• hold mainly Bitcoin, Ethereum and EVM tokens, and use NGRAVE’s LIQUID app, MetaMask or Rabby.

It is a weaker fit if you want:

• a long native coin list: see the coin section below;
• firmware you can read in full: NGRAVE says only part of it will be published;
• a light device: at 214 g it weighs more than the ELLIPAL Titan 2.0 (140 g, listed at $169 on 14 October 2026) and the Keystone 3 Pro (103 g, listed at $149 on the same date), both also 4-inch QR signers;
• multisig or SLIP-39 backups: we found no NGRAVE documentation of either for the ZERO.

What does EAL7 mean on the NGRAVE ZERO?

NGRAVE’s spec sheet lists “CC EAL7, CE, RoHS, FCC”, and the product page credits “a custom OS that achieved EAL7 certification”. NGRAVE’s May 2020 announcement is more specific: the ZERO integrates ProvenCore, a trusted execution environment from Prove & Run that “meets Common Criteria EAL7 security certification”. By NGRAVE’s own account, then, the certificate covers the operating system layer, not the whole wallet or its chip.

The secure element is a separate part. NGRAVE’s specifications page describes it as “a customized and upgraded version of the STSAFE A100”, next to an STM32MP157C processor, and does not state its certification level. When Trezor or Tangem quote EAL6+, they refer to the secure element chip, so the two numbers describe different components and are not a direct ranking.

For physical protection, NGRAVE says “You can’t open NGRAVE ZERO without damaging it or leaving traces”, so you can check it for tampering after shipping, and that after setup “sensors inside wipe the device if opened”. The specifications page adds an IP55 rating. We found no independent test of the tamper sensors. Our dataset records no security incident for the ZERO; that is the result of our search, not proof that none exists.

Is the NGRAVE ZERO open source?

Not fully. NGRAVE’s help article, last updated in July 2023, says the firmware “will be gradually open sourced except the secure element and secure operating system.” We did not establish how much has been published since. Separately, NGRAVE’s homepage says firmware 1.8 moved the ZERO to an “open Universal QR Protocol”, “published for anyone to read, verify, and build on”. That opens the format the device uses to exchange data, not the firmware that signs.

What is the NGRAVE Perfect Key?

The Perfect Key is NGRAVE’s backup format: “the equivalent of a traditional 24-word seed phrase in a 64-character hexadecimal format”. During setup the ZERO “uses your biometrics and allows you to shuffle parts of your key” to generate it, and the specifications page says the camera adds randomness “separate from the built-in chip”. Since firmware 1.5, according to NGRAVE’s setup guide, new wallets are created only in this format.

It is not a closed format. An FAQ on the product page (updated 16 December 2023) says the Perfect Key “can easily be converted into the 24-words version and vice versa”. NGRAVE calls both forms representations of a 256-bit private key, but its conversion steps are more precise: they label the hexadecimal value “Entropy” and the words “BIP39 Mnemonic”. In BIP39 terms, the 64 characters are the random entropy that the 24 words encode, and the wallet’s seed and keys are derived from the words afterwards. NGRAVE says you are “always free to import” that phrase into another wallet. We have not tested whether every asset appears at the same addresses there.

Other backup details:

• Importing: NGRAVE’s import guide covers 12-, 18- or 24-word phrases, while recommending new keys created on the ZERO.
• GRAPHENE is a two-plate stainless steel backup for the Perfect Key that NGRAVE describes as “encrypted and recoverable”; its shop listing sells it separately from the ZERO.
• Passphrase: supported. NGRAVE’s passphrase FAQ says it is not stored on the ZERO like the Perfect Key: it is held encrypted in the secure element only for the duration of a session and wiped when the ZERO goes into standby or turns off. The FAQ adds that a passphrase “can’t be displayed” on the device and is not part of the Perfect Key backup, so a lost passphrase means losing “access to the associated funds”.

See our seed phrase guide.

Which coins does the NGRAVE ZERO support?

NGRAVE’s figures vary by page. The ZERO page says “We support 15 coins and all Ethereum and MultiversX tokens” but opens with “+3 500 coins and tokens”. The FAQ on NGRAVE’s homepage names coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Avalanche (X-chain), plus Ethereum NFTs, and says that through MetaMask and Rabby you can “store and transact coins on all EVM-based chains even if they are not supported in the LIQUID app”. The same page says firmware 1.8 adds Polygon tokens. We found no Bitcoin-only edition.

Other QR signers are compared in our air-gapped hardware wallets guide, including the COLDCARD Q.

What we could not verify

• The secure element’s certification level.
• Which parts of the firmware NGRAVE has published, and under what licence.
• Multisig and SLIP-39 support.
• When the first units shipped: the 2020 release planned shipping for October 2020, and NGRAVE’s press archive places first-batch coverage in 2021.
• A single coin count that reconciles NGRAVE’s figures.
• Any independent test of the tamper sensors.

Read how we build each datasheet in our methodology.