Recover release delayed after criticism

Ledger delayed the release of its Recover tool, included in a 2.2.1 firmware update for the hardware wallet. The announcement of this new feature had generated strong criticism of the company.

In a letter addressed to Ledger users, its CEO, Pascal Gauthier, assured that the company will “accelerate the roadmap for the project to be open source”. In this way, by making Ledger’s code auditable, they seek to reaffirm the pursuit of transparency as one of their main goals, he said.

In this regard, he said that the vast majority of Ledger’s code is already open source, and that this “is not necessarily a security feature”, although it does contribute to transparency. Gauthier noted that all of the 150 applications of Ledger Nano, Ledger Live and “a part of the operating system” are already open source and are available For revision.

To continue on that path the next Ledger components to be made open source are the operating system and RecoverGauthier detailed. “Recover won’t be released until this job is done,” he stated. In addition, the service will be optional, “so that the community has as much choice as possible.”

“We are doing all of this to move forward together, bringing security and self-custody to the next wave of cryptocurrency users. We have listened to our customers; we are accelerating a roadmap that was already underway, and despite everything, the security of your Ledger remains unchanged”.

—Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger.

Ledger responds to criticism after Recover announcement

As reported in CriptoNoticias, Ledger had been the target of much criticism after meeting Recover. The tool gave the possibility of storing the encrypted seed phrase in a data hosting service in the cloud, thus involving an intermediary between the user and their funds.

In this sense, the former CEO of Ledger, Éric Larchevêque, had opined that Recover was announced “in the worst possible way”, but that Ledger was still safe. “Actually, nothing changed,” she elaborated.

Gauthier did not omit the subject in his letter. The businessman apologized for the way in which Recover was communicated and explained. “It was not our intention to surprise them. In fact, it is for this very reason that we have talked about this product in public for more than a year”.

Ledger’s CEO promised to improve communication for the future. He in turn added that he considers Recover a service “necessary to ensure that everyone is self-sufficient and has self-custody of their digital value.”