Ledger backpedals on controversial key recovery feature following community backlash

Hardware wallet provider Ledger will not launch its key recovery feature after fevered criticism from the crypto community.

In a May 23 statement, CEO Pascal Gauthier said Ledger would first release the code for the new feature before it is launched while apologizing for the miscommunication surrounding the development.

“Our unintentional communication mistake took everyone by surprise and affected our customer’s ability to accurately understand Ledger Recover.”

According to Gauthier, Ledger would accelerate its open-source roadmap by making the code for the core components of its OS, including Ledger Recover, publicly available.

“We will open source the Ledger Recover protocol, enabling the community to have as much choice as possible over your self-custody,in addition to the service being fully optional,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gauthier further reiterated his belief that the feature would benefit many new entrants into the crypto space, adding that a significant problem for crypto self-custody adoption was the problem of seed phrase recovery.

“The majority of users in crypto today either don’t own their private keys and/or are putting their private keys at risk using less secure forms of self-custody, and hard-to-use forms of storing and securing their seed phrase.”

Ledger has also scheduled a Twitter Spaces session for 12:30 pm EST to discuss the issue further.

The wallet provider came under fire last week after announcing Ledger Recover. The feature would allow users to store encrypted versions of their seed phrases with three custodians.

Although the feature was optional, the crypto community cited the security risk of sharing seed phrases online and its need for a know-your-customer process.

The situation was further exacerbated when Gauthier said wallet keys stored via the Ledger Recover could be disclosed in the event of government sanctions.

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