Learn SATSCARD

SATSCARD is Bitcoin you can hand to someone. Fund the current sealed slot, tap the card to inspect it, and transfer possession of the card. The recipient can keep it sealed, pass it again, or unseal the slot and sweep the bitcoin into a wallet they control.

Start with the job you need to do

Understand the card

• What is SATSCARD? explains the bearer-card model from funding through recovery.
• How SATSCARD slots work explains the ten independent slots and the irreversible transition from sealed to unsealed.
• SATSCARD security model separates protocol protections from the duties of the person holding the card.

Give or accept bitcoin

• Gift bitcoin with SATSCARD covers funding, confirmation, packaging, and recipient instructions.
• Verify and accept a loaded SATSCARD is the checklist for recipients and in-person sellers.
• Unseal and sweep safely covers the irreversible step that moves bitcoin from the card into a normal wallet.

Choose the right Coinkite card

Use SATSCARD vs TAPSIGNER if the two cards look similar to you. The short answer: SATSCARD changes owners; TAPSIGNER should stay with one owner and repeatedly sign wallet transactions.

The lifecycle in one table

Stage	What the holder can do	Important boundary
Sealed and empty	Verify the current slot, then fund its address	Confirm the address with a compatible app before sending
Sealed and funded	Check card state and balance, then keep or pass the card	A physical handoff creates no new on-chain transaction
Unsealed	Export the current slot key and sweep the funds	Key material is exposed; do not treat that slot as private again
Advanced	Set up and use the next independent slot	The printed first-slot QR is not the address for later slots

SATSCARD is not a debit card, exchange account, Lightning tap-to-pay card, seed-phrase wallet, or recommended vault for large long-term savings.

Need operational help?

Use an official compatible wallet from Get Started, or review the full SATSCARD FAQ. Protocol implementers can use the public Coinkite Tap Protocol.