The archive · Hardware & Devices · Product decision · 2023–2026
Ryder bets ordinary users will self-custody crypto
Ryder One wallet: 60-second NFC setup; TapSafe splits recovery phrases into fragments. $3.2M seed led by Draper; Red Dot Award; shipping globally.
Ryder · Light Labs Pte Ltd
What the business is
Ryder One is an NFC hardware wallet: no Bluetooth / no Wi-Fi / no USB; private keys are stored in an EAL6+ secure chip; TapSafe splits backups between the phone and an NFC recovery card, requiring multiple fragments to be combined for recovery, with setup completed in 60 seconds.
How it started
CEO Payawal (2015 Startup Weekend ASEAN winner, previously helped the Stacks community reach 100,000 people), CTO Marvin Janssen, and CPO Julien Nerée built Ryder under Light Labs. In 2023-11, Ryder One was first unveiled at Solana Breakpoint in Amsterdam; the core thesis was that most hardware-wallet coin losses are not device problems but backup problems—a single sheet of paper with 12 words can decide a wallet's fate.
What happened
In 2025-10, it completed a $3.2M seed round led by Tim Draper, with participation from Borderless, Semantic, Smape, VeryEarly, and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, and Asymmetric CEO Joe McCann; funds are for scaling production, engineering and marketing teams, and branding. From 2025-10 to 2025-12, Halborn audited the firmware: zero critical / zero high-risk findings, and 2 medium-risk findings passed re-review after fixes. In 2025-12 at Breakpoint, it announced that Wormhole multi-chain swap would launch in 2026.
How it ended up
Still in operation: in 2026-04, Ryder One became the first crypto hardware wallet to win the Red Dot Product Design Award (红点产品设计奖); in 2026-07, it launched Ryder Earn (in-app SOL/Stacks staking) and a C++ SDK, with firmware OS 1.7.0; it is shipping globally and has a Trustpilot rating of 4.8/5, but the company has not disclosed sales volume or revenue.
Background
In 2025-10, Ryder, founded by Filipino Louise Payawal, raised a $3.2M seed round led by Tim Draper, with Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko on the participating investor list. It is not selling coins; it sells Ryder One—a hardware wallet that turns 'self-custody' from a technical task into a tap action.
Ryder One has no Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or USB, only NFC: touching a phone to it enables setup and signing, completed in 60 seconds; private keys are stored in an EAL6+ secure chip. Its signature feature is TapSafe: it splits the recovery-phrase backup into phone shares + NFC recovery-card shares, requiring at least two physical fragments to be combined to restore the wallet, eliminating the single point of failure where 'a piece of paper decides a wallet's fate' by design.
The product debuted at Solana Breakpoint in 2023-11, and expanded production after the 2025-10 seed round; at the end of 2025, the Halborn firmware audit found zero critical / zero high-risk issues; in 2026-04 it became the first crypto hardware wallet to win the Red Dot Product Design Award, and in 2026-07 it launched in-app SOL/Stacks staking. The company is registered in Singapore, its engineering team is in the Philippines, and it targets ordinary users deterred by complexity and recovery phrases.
As of 2026-09-01, Ryder One is shipping globally and has a Trustpilot rating of 4.8/5; the company has not disclosed sales volume or revenue. The bet has not reached its payoff date: hardware wallets are a narrow market, and whether 'simple security' can push self-custody to the mass market still depends on activation rates after the Wormhole multi-chain swap launches.
What has to be true
- Pain point well chosen: most losses occur in backup; TapSafe eliminates recovery phrase as single point of failure.
- Setup reduced from 20-30 minutes to 60 seconds; targets users who fear hassle.
- Solana ecosystem ties: Breakpoint debut, Yakovenko angel, Wormhole swap, in-app staking lower cold-start costs.
- Third-party signals: Halborn audit, Red Dot Award, Trustpilot rating build trust.
What can be applied
Turn fear into selling point: redesign recovery phrases as physical fragments. Layers of onboarding, offline design, audit, and award remove insecurity.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-01: Ryder One is still shipping globally; the official website sells Starter and Super Safe configurations; in 2026-07 it launched Ryder Earn (SOL/Stacks staking) and a native C++ SDK, with firmware OS 1.7.0; before that, in 2026-04 it won the Red Dot Product Design Award, and at the end of 2025 the Halborn audit found zero critical / zero high-risk issues. The company has not disclosed sales volume, revenue, or user count, and there has been no new public funding round after the seed round.
Sources
- Filipino-led startup Ryder secures $3.2-M backing from tech investor Tim Draper
- Billionaire Tim Draper Leads US$3.2M Seed Round for Filipino-Led Crypto Startup
- Ryder: Hardware wallet without the seed phrase anxiety
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