Ryder

Ryder is a hardware wallet developed by Light Labs Pte Ltd that removes the seed phrase from self-custody without sacrificing air-gap security. The company's flagship product, Ryder One, stores private keys inside an EAL6+ certified secure element and replaces manual seed phrase backup with a distributed recovery system it calls TapSafe. The device launched publicly at Solana Breakpoint in Amsterdam in November 2023, and Solana support has been central to its design from the start.

The Core Problem Ryder Is Solving

Most hardware wallet losses happen not at the device level but at the backup level. A user loses the piece of paper with their 12-word phrase, or a fire destroys it, or a family member finds it and empties the wallet. Traditional hardware wallets push this risk entirely onto the user while providing no alternative. Ryder's argument is that eliminating the phrase — not just warning users to store it carefully — is the only reliable answer.

The company also targets the friction gap that has kept hardware wallets a niche product. Setup for a traditional cold-storage device often takes 20 to 30 minutes. Ryder One is configured in under 60 seconds.

TapSafe: Distributed Recovery Without a Single Point of Failure

TapSafe implements Shamir Secret Sharing, a cryptographic algorithm that divides a secret into multiple shares where any one share alone is mathematically useless. Ryder splits the user's backup across three components: Recovery Tags (small NFC-enabled backup devices), the paired smartphone, and optionally one or more Recovery Contacts (trusted people who hold an encrypted share). No individual component can reconstruct the wallet in isolation. Recovering access requires combining shares from at least two sources.

This architecture removes the central failure point that defines seed phrase backups. There is no single piece of paper, no single device, and no single person who can unlock the wallet alone. The approach draws on established cryptographic primitives — BIP32, BIP39, and BIP44 compliance was independently verified — rather than proprietary algorithms.

Hardware and Security Architecture

Ryder One is a compact device at 45 x 45 x 12 mm and 38 grams. It has a 1.6-inch AMOLED touchscreen, a physical confirmation button, and a 200 mAh battery with Qi wireless charging. The device is IP67 rated for water and dust resistance.

Communication happens exclusively over encrypted NFC. There is no Bluetooth, no Wi-Fi, and no USB data connection. Private keys are generated and stored inside an Infineon EAL6+ secure element — the same certification grade used in passports and government identity documents — and never leave the chip. The phone app connects to the device via NFC for transaction signing, and the display shows transaction details before the physical button confirms them.

From October through December 2025, security firm Halborn conducted an independent audit of the Ryder One firmware. The audit covered secure element firmware, the TapSafe recovery implementation, Shamir Secret Sharing logic, BIP32/BIP39/BIP44 compliance, side-channel attack resistance, PIN authentication, and NFC pairing. Halborn found zero critical findings and zero high findings. Two medium severity findings were resolved and re-verified before the report was published.

Solana Integration

Ryder positioned Solana as a native integration from its public debut. The device was first unveiled at Solana Breakpoint 2023 in Amsterdam, and Solana Pay compatibility was highlighted as a planned feature to support peer-to-peer payments. The device supports SOL alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stacks, and over 60 tokens across those networks, including Solana ecosystem assets such as Jupiter, Bonk, and Magic Eden tokens.

In July 2026, Ryder added SOL staking directly inside the companion app through a feature it calls Ryder Earn. Users can stake Solana and earn rewards without leaving the app or moving assets to a separate staking platform, with the hardware device providing signing security throughout. The same update added Stacks staking.

Also in July 2026, Ryder announced it is building a native C++ SDK for the Solana ecosystem — a tooling layer intended to simplify integration between Ryder devices and Solana-based applications.

Austin Federa, who leads strategy at the Solana Foundation, noted publicly that he ordered a Ryder One on day one with Solana support, an early signal of ecosystem alignment.

Funding and Backers

Ryder closed a seed round of approximately three million dollars in October 2025 led by Tim Draper of Draper Associates. The round also included Borderless Capital, Semantic, SMAPE Capital, Reverie, and Very Early as institutional backers. Angel investors included Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, and Joe McCann, CEO of hedge fund Asymmetric.

Draper described the device as "the simplest secure hard wallet." Yakovenko's participation as an angel investor reflects the degree to which Ryder has embedded itself in Solana's founding circles since its Breakpoint debut. The company is incorporated in Singapore and the engineering team is based in the Philippines.

Product and Pricing

Ryder One is available in two bundles. The Starter Combo includes one Ryder One, one Recovery Tag, a wireless charger, and a travel pouch. The Super Safe Combo includes three Recovery Tags, enabling a more distributed TapSafe configuration. Both include free worldwide shipping with taxes and duties prepaid and a 60-day money-back guarantee.

The device design was created by Ray and Rob Horacek and Noa Labs, drawing on the concept of ancient rock formations to express durability. In April 2026, Ryder One became the first cryptocurrency hardware wallet to win the Red Dot Product Design Award, one of the oldest and most widely recognized industrial design competitions. The Red Dot jury, comprising hundreds of international design experts, evaluated the device across innovation, functionality, formal quality, and ergonomics.

The companion app is available on iOS and Android. Ryder holds a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot.

Current Status

Ryder is actively shipping product and continuing firmware development. Ryder OS 1.7.0, released in July 2026, introduced Ryder Earn, the ability to switch display currencies, and new in-app guides. The blog is updated regularly, with technical posts on wallet key generation, recovery phrase mechanics, and ecosystem comparisons published through August 2026. The GitHub repository is maintained under Light Labs at github.com/Light-Labs.

The project has moved through a complete product lifecycle — founding, pre-orders at Solana Breakpoint, a security audit, a venture seed round, an industrial design award, and live staking — since Light Labs was incorporated in 2020. As of mid-2026, Ryder One is commercially available and shipping to customers globally.