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Ledger Postpones Implementation of Disputed “Recover” Service, Reveals Open-Source Development Plan
Ledger, a provider of crypto hardware wallets, will postpone its plans to introduce a private key recovery service following significant backlash after its announcement last week.
The controversy, which raised concerns regarding the safety and reliability of Ledger devices in general, has prompted the company to expedite its open-sourcing agenda.
Ledger’s Apology
On Tuesday, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier issued a public apology letter addressing the manner in which Ledger’s “Recover” service was first presented to the public.
“Our unintended communication error caught everyone off guard and impacted our customers’ ability to fully comprehend Ledger Recover,” stated Gauthier. “We never intended to catch you by surprise.”
Ledger Recover, which was announced last week, is an upcoming subscription service for Ledger Nano X users that provides a method to recover their cryptocurrency if they lose both their device and paper backup seed phrase. Technically, it involves dividing a user’s private key into three encrypted “shards,” with each shard stored by Ledger, Coincover, and another third party.
The service faced widespread criticism for the potential risk that Ledger could access users’ private keys through a malicious firmware update. Concerns intensified later that week when Ledger Support asserted (in a now-deleted tweet) that customers have always “trusted” Ledger not to deploy such harmful code “whether you were aware of it or not.”
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In a podcast episode of What Bitcoin Did released on Monday, Gauthier also mentioned that Ledger’s custodians might be compelled to surrender a customer’s private key shards if ordered by a government subpoena.
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Ledger still intends to proceed with a “clarified version” of Ledger Recover in the future, which will address most of the community’s highlighted “sticking points.”
“The primary concerns you raised revolve around transparency, censorship resistance, and security,” Gauthier noted. “I believe we have effectively addressed all of your concerns.”
The Open-Source Roadmap
Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet elaborated on how the company plans to open-source more of its software moving forward as part of its commitment to maximum transparency. “Open-source” code refers to code that is accessible and verifiable by the public.
The company recently open-sourced its cryptography library and will soon publish its Ledger Recover whitepaper, enabling anyone to “audit the cryptographic protocols and allow individuals to create their own shards backup provider.”
Ledger aims to “gradually” open source the majority of its operating system, but it cannot fully open-source its firmware due to intellectual property agreements with the manufacturers of its smartcard chips, which protect against hostile attackers with physical access to the device.
“Open sourcing has always been fundamental to our roadmap, and recent developments highlight the necessity of accelerating our efforts to enhance verifiability in everything we do at Ledger,” the CTO concluded.
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