Online discussions continue to swirl around Ledger’s new firmware update for its crypto hardware wallet, which experts have claimed could put users’ private keys at risk. 

Ledger published a Twitter thread on Wednesday attempting to alleviate concerns around the safety of users’ assets, but published a self-contradictory and confusing tweet that stoked the flames of controversy even further. 

Ledger’s Worrying Tweet

In a now-deleted tweet, Ledger support verified criticisms from Wednesday exposing a troublesome reality of using their product: the manufacturer could, technically, release firmware that extracts users’ private keys from their wallets.

“You have always trusted Ledger not to deploy such firmware whether you knew it or not,” wrote the company.

This contradicts a claim from the company’s main account last November, in which Ledger claimed that user private keys cannot be extracted from a wallet’s secure element chip through a firmware update. 

At the time, Ledger and other wallet manufacturers were recording record sales in the aftermath of FTX’s collapse, as crypto investors sought the security of self-custody and cold storage for their crypto assets. 

On Thursday, Ledger said that it decided to delete its Wednesday tweet due to its “confusing wording.” However, Ledger’s CTO Charles Guillemet published a follow-up thread explaining that wallets, in general, have “many ways” to implement a backdoor, and that some level of trust is required with any third-party wallet purchase. 

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