Unchained

The Ugly Tradeoffs of Ledger’s New Recovery Service - Ep. 494

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Ledger, the crypto industry’s leading hardware wallet manufacturer, rolled out a new recovery feature this month that caused an uproar. The recovery service has dangerous implications for crypto self-custody, says Foundation Devices Head of Content “Seth For Privacy.” He joins the show to discuss the downsides of closed-source code and the security risks that come with compromising for mainstream adoption.


Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights:

  • how Ledger Recover works and why it caused an outrage in the crypto community
  • why the fact that Ledger’s code is not open-source could be considered a problem
  • what the concerns are about handing over additional data to Ledger
  • how darknet markets have always existed for fake ID verifications and how it relates to Ledger’s new feature
  • some of Ledger’s previous security lapses 
  • why introducing a trusted third party undermines one of Bitcoin’s most central tenets
  • whether Ledger’s move is a “net good for society,” and whether people actually want a service like this in a hardware wallet
  • whether something will go wrong with Ledger in the future
    • Thank you to our sponsors!
    • Crypto.com
    • Railgun DAO 
    • Stader Labs
      • Guest

      Seth for Privacy, blogger and head of content at Foundation Devices

      • Blog
      • Foundation Devices
      • Twitter thread on the logistics and risks of the Ledger recovery process
        • Links
        • Ledger CTO Twitter thread on Ledger Recover 
        • CoinDesk: Ledger Bats Back Criticism of New Wallet Recovery Service, CoinDesk 
        • Unchained: ‘Backdoor’ for Seed Phrases? Ledger’s New Recovery Feature Spooks Users
        • Ledger Recover webpage
        • Haseeb Qureshi’s thread on the Ledger controversy

          • Past Ledger security issues

          • CoinDesk: Crypto Wallet Maker Ledger Loses 1M Email Addresses in Data Theft
          • Cointelegraph: Ledger data leak: A ‘simple mistake’ exposed 270K crypto wallet buyers


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            UnchainedBy Laura Shin
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