Hardware crypto wallet firm Ledger has faced harsh criticism from the crypto community after announcing its “Recover” service, an optional paid feature aimed at making self-custody easier which will allow users to back up and restore their private seed phrase. Due to security concerns, Ledger decided to postpone the launch of the service and focus on open-sourcing its protocol.
Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier reassured users that the new service is optional and meant to help onboard the next 100 million crypto users by making secure self-custody easier while not compromising on security. According to Gauthier, many people find managing their 24-word seed phrases daunting or too complex. Ledger Recover, therefore, is designed for these users.
Critics claim Ledger Recover goes against the core ideals of Ledger’s customers. Shahar Madar, head of security products at Fireblocks, a digital asset custody platform, expressed concerns that if providers wanted to collude and initiate the process without proper identification and authorization, they technically could.
On the other hand, some industry participants believe this service could be useful for onboarding new users, considering every user should be able to back up their keys somewhere. Marvin Janssen, co-founder of hardware wallet provider Ryder, thinks Ledger Recover might appeal to mainstream customers, especially those new to Web3, who lose access to their wallets because of a faulty or complete lack of backup.
However, Janssen also highlighted the security challenges surrounding transportation of the shards for backup. There is a risk of an attacker intercepting the shards when they are transmitted rather than trying to attack the Ledger itself. These security concerns will remain a primary issue until more clarity around Ledger Recover is revealed.
Nevertheless, Margaret Rosenfeld, chief legal officer for crypto exchange Cube Exchange, believes many crypto users desire some recovery support they can trust. Users want a noncustodial solution that keeps them in control of their assets and allows seamless, low-effort transactions. As long as security concerns persist, mixed sentiments around Ledger Recover will likely continue.
Source: Cointelegraph
