Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger announced on Friday that it has verified reports of theft of funds totaling $86 million from its devices sold through a reseller in Southeast Asia.
Image Source: Ledger
The alleged theft was reported by a blockchain researcher with the nickname Specter. He said on social media X that he tracked down addresses allegedly involved in the theft of funds on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron networks after seeing reports of theft from Ledger users on the X and Reddit platforms. It is unclear whether these incidents are related and how the hack occurred.
In turn, Ledger acknowledged receiving complaints about missing funds from users who bought its devices through the CryptoBilis reseller, but did not confirm the announced amount of damage. It is also unknown how hackers managed to hack crypto wallets.
During the investigation, the reseller was asked to suspend sales and shipments of goods, and customers who purchased devices from him in the last 90 days not to begin setting them up. For those who have already activated their crypto wallets, the company advised to transfer assets to a new Ledger device with a newly generated recovery phrase.
The situation in the field of cryptocurrency security this year is difficult even without this incident. Last month, assets worth more than $350 million were stolen from the Bitget crypto exchange. According to DefiLlama, hacks of Liquid Network (damage of about $320 million), Drift ($295 million) and Kelp ($293 million) were also recorded.
Paris-based Ledger is a major manufacturer of hardware wallets, selling more than 7 million devices worldwide. In this case, the investigation involves devices sold through a third-party reseller, and there is no confirmation that Ledger’s own systems or technology were compromised.
It is believed that the hack occurred due to a supply chain attack, in which hardware wallets are tampered with before they reach the buyer. For example, an attacker could provide a device with a recovery phrase already known to him, which allows him to subsequently gain access to funds credited to this wallet.
Ledger officials said they will update the public as the investigation progresses.
If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL+ENTER.
