Seed Me No Lies: A Tampered Ledger Reaps $86M as "Hardware" Gets a Hardware-y Glow-Up 🔓

Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has confirmed that a customer device obtained through Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis contained an unauthorized hardware implant, amid an investigation into crypto losses that on-chain investigator Specter estimated could exceed $86 million across Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron ($BTC, $ETH). In a Sunday post on X, Ledger said it was proactively reaching out to affected users and asked anyone with information to contact its bounty program at bounty@ledger.fr.

CryptoBilis, listed as an authorized Ledger reseller in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, announced in the post that it had ceased sales of all hardware wallet inventory until the probe is concluded, and stated it is in active communication with Ledger on next steps. Ledger has not confirmed the number of customers affected or the exact value of the reported losses.

Ledger is advising buyers who purchased a device from CryptoBilis and have not yet set it up to refrain from doing so. Users who have already initialized their devices are urged to consider migrating assets to a new Ledger signer generated with a fresh seed phrase. Ledger added that its own infrastructure, systems and services remained untouched. "Ledger's infrastructure, systems and services were not compromised," the company said in a statement to Cointelegraph, characterizing the incident as isolated to that single reseller and its market.

The company reiterated that its investigation is ongoing and directed users with questions to official support channels at http://support.ledger.com. Ledger's confirmation builds on reporting from earlier in the week that flagged losses tied to CryptoBilis, with Specter's $86 million tally drawing attention from the broader crypto community.