Ledger delays plans for controversial Recover” service and announces open source roadmap

Ledger delays plans for controversial Recover” service and announces open source roadmap

Crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger will postpone its plans to launch its private key recovery service after receiving severe backlash following its announcement last week.

The controversy, which raised questions about the security and trustworthiness of ledger devices more broadly, has inspired the company to accelerate its open source roadmap.

Ledger's apology

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier initially released a public letter of apology on Tuesday for the way Ledger's "Recover" service was initially communicated to the public.

“Our inadvertent communication error caught everyone by surprise and impacted our customers’ ability to accurately understand Ledger Recover,” Gauthier said. “We never intended to surprise you.”

Announced last week, Ledger Recover is an upcoming paid subscription service for Ledger Nano. On a technical level, it involves splitting a user's private key into three encrypted "shards" and storing each shard at Ledger, Coincover, and another third party.

The service was wide-rangingcriticizedfor disclosing that Ledger could potentially steal users' private keys from their devices with a malicious firmware update. Concerns grew later this week when Ledger Supportclaims(in a now-deleted tweet) that customers had always “trusted” Ledger not to release such malicious code, “whether you knew it or not.”

In onePodcast episodefromWhat Bitcoin DidAs published on Monday, Gauthier also explained that Ledger's custodians could be forced to forfeit a customer's private key shards if ordered to do so by a government.

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier explains that Ledger Recover would give the state the ability to recover your data #Bitcoin private keys in case of a subpoena. pic.twitter.com/KWaXcgtMqr

– The ₿itcoin Therapist (@TheBTCTherapist) May 22, 2023

Ledger still plans to release a “clarified version” of Ledger Recover in the future that will address most of the “sticking points” raised by the community.

“The main concerns you have raised are about transparency, censorship resistance and security,” Gauthier said. “I think we did a good job addressing all of your concerns.”

The open source roadmap

Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet detailed how the company would release more of its software as open source in the future as a commitment to maximum transparency. “Open source” code refers to code that is publicly viewable and verifiable.

The company recently open-sourced its cryptographic library and will soon release its “Ledger Recover” white paper, which allows anyone to “audit the cryptographic protocols and enable people to build their own shard backup provider.”

Ledger plans to open source most of its operating system "in a phased manner," but it still cannot fully open source its firmware due to IP agreements with the makers of its smart card chips, which deter hostile attackers through physical access to the device.

“Open sourcing has always been at the heart of our roadmap, and recent events underscore the importance of accelerating our initiative to make everything we do at Ledger more auditable,” concluded the CTO.

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