Following harsh criticism from the crypto community, hardware wallet company Ledger has chosen to postpone the rollout of its key-recovery feature. Ledger Recover is a new service announced by Ledger.
It was intended to allow customers to save secured backups of their seed phrases with three custodians. Concerns were voiced, however, concerning sharing seed words with third parties.
In response to the uproar, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier pledged to open-source the Ledger Recover code before proceeding with the problematic update.
Gauthier recognized the community’s worries and indicated that openness and user trust would be prioritized at Ledger. He also planned a Twitter Spaces event to discuss the matter with users directly. This has a major importance in the twitter blockchain community.
The key-recovery function was created to allow users to retrieve their private keys. This is if they misplaced or forgot their seed phrases. Others, however, stated that this violated the core principle of self-custody. They started voicing concerns about future hackers and government access to individuals’ data. The absence of open-source code also prompted worries about the custody mechanism’s safety.
🔒 Ledger responds to community backlash and delays key-recovery feature release.
The company pledges to open-source the code, prioritizing transparency and user trust. #CryptoSecurity #Transparency #Crypto #LedgerRecover $CRYPTO 🚀
— Walletor (@walletorapp) May 23, 2023
In reaction to the opinions, Gauthier acknowledged the value of open-sourcing code. He also pledged to accelerate Ledger’s open-source strategy. He indicated that after finishing the necessary work, they would disclose further elements of its code. This includes essential components of the operating system and Ledger Recover.
While Ledger intended to provide a key recovery solution to help new crypto users who may find self-custody difficult, the business recognized the need to address community concerns.
Conclusion
Ledger hopes to recover user trust and safeguard the security of its services. They may do this by delaying the release and emphasizing openness and open-source technology. The event acts as a reminder of the value of community feedback. It also underlines the crypto industry’s continuous attempts to achieve a balance between user ease and the ideals of self-custody and crypto security.