Ledger Recover – A “humbling experience” according to Ledger CTO

Some strategic mistakes come at a high price, especially in such demanding and controversy-loving sectors as cryptocurrencies. A “humbling experience” according to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Charles Guillemet of the French company Ledger, a world leader in the field of electronic wallets. The problem, its “Recover” service was already about to be buried even before its actual launch.

It must be said that the announcement of this private key extraction security option From the beginning, this sounded like a false good idea. But the real problem arose from the controversy over its integration – albeit optional – into existing hardware wallets. To address the concerns of its users, Ledger’s communication managers ended up digging the hole they were already in. Result: Suspended the “Recover” option and “open source roadmap”.

Ledger Recover – Functionality finally suspended.

The problem that Ledger has just faced could almost sum up the situation in which the cryptocurrency sector currently finds itself. Between repeated attacks from regulatory authorities and the ever-increasing development of this digital economy, a clear separation between DeFi and CeFi is becoming increasingly apparent. And as the global market leader in the hardware wallet market, Ledger has been the guarantor of the decentralized part of this ecosystem. because of its handling of the valuable private keys.

Unfortunately, Ledger obviously wanted to play in a different category as he moved from being a hardware wallet manufacturer to crypto services provider.. It was certainly a good idea on paper, when it came to graphs showing new revenues from associated subscriptions. But it was forgotten that this dynamics could at the same time weaken its character, until then strongly anchored on the side of the decentralization.

In fact, the mere assumption of being able to extract private keys from these little boxes has had the effect of a bombshell in the cryptocurrency industry. So much so that Charles Guillemet admitted that he will require Ledger to “work with the community in a new way for future decisions.” And after a week of heated debates and increasingly alarming statements, the decision has just dropped like a knife: the “Recover” functionality is officially suspended.

Ledger – Open source roadmap released.

And to find a suitable way out of this fiasco, Ledger seems determined to play the transparency card. One way to pursue his mission to “provide (his) users with the right tools to own their digital value securely.” And to achieve that – and calm people down – Ledger has decided to Is talking about “accelerating (its) open source roadmap. to bring more verifiability” to its achievements. But this, of course, does not include anything about its chips and secure elements….

” We recently made our cryptographic library (which is part of our operating system) open source, and very soon we will be releasing the Ledger Recover white paper, which will allow anyone to audit protocols and create their own shard backup provider. “

Charles Guillemet

To conclude Ledger does not give up his Recover option. In fact, Charles Guillemet explains that the company wants to “open up most of (its) operating system, starting with Ledger Recover, to make it fully auditable.” And once this step is validated, this functionality will be reconsidered if it is accepted and understood by the community. Because it will not be It will not be a question of developing a new portfolio specifically dedicated to its integrationAccording to Ledger, this would be nothing more than “security theater.”

A dynamic confirmed by Eric Larchevêque, former CEO and co-founder of Ledger. According to Larchevêque, “security through obscurity” is not the best way to go. At the same time, he reminds us of a fact that cannot be ignored:” the majority of cryptocurrency users today are not secure.. ” In fact, according to the figures presented, of the more than 400 million cryptocurrency holders, only 10 million have hardware wallets. So Ledger still has a long way to go…..

Discover the exciting world of cryptocurrencies at. the Bitget reference platform ¡! Accumulate and trade your first bitcoins and ethereum securely, while enjoying a lifetime discount on your trading commissions (trade link).