The chain investigator, ZachXBT, has recently publicly criticized the hardware wallet, stating that such equipment is not suitable for key transaction signatures and that it is not recommended for large encryption assets. He stated in Telegram that instead of relying on hardware wallets, it would be better to use an iPhone that manages encrypted assets and separates them from their daily uses.
Call for names, Legger.
In this statement, ZachXBT points the main criticism to Ledger. He argued that Ledger was the “problem” because its software packages were too frequently updated and could even affect some basic operations.
He mentioned that the Ledger Live interfaces and applications would be regularly updated, but that they would not necessarily create a clear need, but could make simple operations unstable. The report also notes that these claims belong to the personal judgement of ZachXBT, who has not produced new evidence that a new security gap has occurred in the Ledger equipment in the recent past, or that the private key protection mechanism has lapsed.
Ledger has changed the name of Legger Live to Legger Wallet. According to a statement issued by the company, version 4.8.0 was on line on 11 June and updated to include security improvements, interface adjustments and minor error repair.
The fraud risk is still on the software side.
It is mentioned that the recent risks faced by Ledger users come more from software that impersonates official products than from the failure of hardware equipment itself. Such counterfeit applications replicate brand names and induce users to assume that they are using official wallet tools.
In April this year, a fake application impersonating Legger Live appeared in Apple Store. Crypto.news previously reported that the application had stolen at least $9.5 million from over 50 victims within a week.
When the victim enters a note in the fake application, the aggressor directly controls the wallet. Stolen assets include Bitcoin, the Ether, Solana, Tron and XRP. Then the apples put the application down.
The debate is about the way we trust ourselves.
This discussion reflects two different approaches to self-custody. The core logic of the hardware wallet is to keep the private key as remote as possible from the network-connected general-purpose equipment, while ZachXBT values equipment isolation and advocates the use of an independent mobile phone that only handles encrypted assets.
However, in either way, users may still be exposed to risks such as fishing, false applications, divulging and social engineering attacks. For most users, the real weaknesses are often not just the equipment itself, but also the software download channels and assistive word management habits.