Ledger received early warnings about hardware wallet implants, former Mt. Gox CEO said the response was insufficient

According to Cointelegraph, French hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger received multiple reports of malicious implants months before the latest security crisis occurred. Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès stated that at least two individuals contacted Ledger starting in December 2025 to report that their devices had been tampered with, but no public warning was issued.

Security researcher Joe Grand reported a malicious implant to Ledger on March 4, 2026, which was located in a Nano X purchased from Lazada in Thailand in August 2025.

Ledger confirmed the findings and stated that an internal investigation would be launched, but did not proactively alert customers. Mark Karpelès believes that the increase in the number of reports and the complexity of the technology used should prompt Ledger to take action and at least remind customers to remain cautious.

Ledger declined to comment on how they handled Joe Grand's disclosure, only directing to their public statement on X. The Ledger security crisis was made public on October 9, involving the loss of wallet crypto assets sold by Southeast Asian authorized dealer CryptoBilis; Ledger confirmed that one affected device contained an unauthorized implant. Trezor had also previously received reports involving unauthorized sellers tampering with devices.