Ledger Delays Launch of Recover Feature, to Open-Source Code
- Ledger faced backlash from the crypto community last week after announcing its Ledger Recover service, which will allow users to restore their private keys.
- The company has now said that it will delay the launch of Recover until it has open-sourced some core components of its OS and Recover codebase.
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Hardware crypto wallet provider Ledger has decided to delay the launch of its private key recovery feature after facing harsh criticism from the community, the company said in a blog post on 23 May.
According to the announcement, the company will postpone the release of Ledger Recover — a service that would allow Ledger owners to restore their private keys even if they forget their seed phrases — until it has improved its transparency and open-sourced more of its codebase. Ledger’s chairman and CEO Pascal Gauthier noted that the company will first open-source core components of its OS and Ledger Recover before releasing the feature. Gauthier tweeted:
The hardware wallet provider faced severe backlash from the crypto community after announcing its Ledger Recover feature on 16 May. One of the main criticisms of the service — which would split a user’s seed phrase into 3 pieces that will be stored with Ledger and two more companies — was that seed phrases will be shared with someone other than the wallet owner.
Critics of Ledger Recover quickly pointed out potential threats to the service, such as the custodians getting hacked, data leaks from know-your-customer (KYC) providers, and the risk of possible government subpoenas. Another point made by the community — which has now been addressed by Ledger — was that the code of the service was not open-source, so there was no way to audit the safety of the custody mechanism.
- The promo campaign was launched on 31 August, and offered new users a $25 bonus on their first deposit of $500 or more.
- The promotion, however, was met with backlash from the community due to its “liveness check”, which used facial recognition software.
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- Unnamed sources have said that the company is currently in talks with interested parties to raise at least $100 million in a new funding round.
- The same people noted that Ledger had experienced growth in its business over the past months, as investors turn to cold storage.
- The so called Visa Crypto Life card will be launched in the U.K., Germany, and France in Q1 of 2022, while the U.S. release is scheduled for Q2.
- Ledger also partnered with FTX, giving its Ledger Live users access to the exchange’s liquidity, leverage, and trading options.