- Ledger is introducing a new piece of crypto hardware.
- Wallet maker strives to simplify access.
- The France-based firm holds a massive share of the crypto market's assets.
Ledger, a French crypto wallet provider, is launching a new recovery tool for owners of its fleet of hardware wallets, the company said Tuesday.
The recovery key, which resembles a credit card, offers users an alternative method for accessing their crypto without relying on the traditional 24-word seed phrases typically associated with hardware wallets.
Instead, after the key is paired with either the Ledger Flex or Ledger Stax wallets using near-field communication technology, users can then simply hold the key to the device, enter a short pin code, and unlock it.
Critical security
It’s yet another attempt from Ledger to balance critical security demands for a much broader user base beyond geeks and cypherpunks.
“I always remember when I tried to explain to my mother how it works,” Charles Guillemet, the chief technology officer of Ledger, told DL News. “She was like, ‘what are these 24 words? What should I do with that?’ It’s not easy.”
The key is expected to hit the market in the coming weeks, a Ledger representative told DL News. They declined to share the price of the device.
Founded in 2014 in France, Ledger has spent the last decade refining a suite of products and services to cater to a growing cryptocurrency market.
The company estimates that roughly 20% of the total market cap is stored across the more than 7.5 million Ledger devices sold over the last decade.
In terms of sales, Guillemet says the company’s most popular products are its entry-level Nano S and Nano X crypto wallets. The new recovery key is only compatible with the Ledger Stax and Ledger Flex products.
Guillemet notes that the revenue split between its core hardware products and services has shifted in the past several years.
“When I joined Ledger in 2017, 100% of revenue was coming from hardware,” he told DL News.
These days, selling wallets – and soon recovery keys – accounts for 50% of the company’s revenues, with services, such as trading within Ledger Live, making up the other half.
“From a business perspective, the idea is to improve the user journey and make self-custody the most accessible possible for everyone,” he said.
Hardware sales
A company representative declined to comment on Ledger’s total revenues.
In 2023, Ledger was valued at $1.4 billion after raising $108 million from investors including Digital Finance Group and VaynerFund.
Guillemet said that service revenues increase when the market is highly volatile, and hardware sales increase as the price of Bitcoin increases.
He explained how events like the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX in 2022 were a boon for Ledger’s services, as market volatility hit a high.
In January 2024, Ledger’s hardware sales shot up, too, following the approval of 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US.
Liam Kelly is a DeFi Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email at liam@dlnews.com.