Ledger’s customers data leak shows the need for retail-focused crypto custody solutions

• An anonymous hacker dumped data of over 270,000 Ledger customers on RaidForums
• Data also contains email addresses of over 1 million Ledger newsletter subscribers 
• Ledger’s data breach and the subsequent dump calls for the need to set up retail cryptocurrency custody solutions

Reports of an anonymous hacker dumping details (emails, phone numbers, physical addresses, etc.) of more than 270,000 Ledger customers on RaidForums have surfaced. Along with this, the dump has also exposed over a million emails of the official Ledger newsletter subscribers. 

Prominent industry figures assure ‘no crypto hack’ 

From how it appears, this massive data dump is a follow up of the breach that Ledger suffered earlier this year in June. While commenting on the incident, the company said that the information could be from their e-commerce database. 

The France-based cryptocurrency wallet company is said to be working with data protection authorities to tackle the breach. 

This unfortunate development jolted the cryptocurrency community. Some prominent crypto Twitter folks lost no time in apprising Ledger users of the potential consequences. 

Popular crypto commentator Nic Carter appeared to pacify compromised Ledger users by saying that their funds are safe and that there wouldn’t be ‘any incident of crypto pilferage.’ 

to be very clear: your coins are safe (if you are storing your seed responsibly). there’s no hack of coins held on a hardware wallet. it’s just your personal information that may have been exposed if you bought a ledger between 2019 – now. potential for sim swaps, phishing etc

When retail-focused cryptocurrency custody solutions?

According to Investopedia, cryptocurrency custody solutions are aimed at deep-pocketed crypto investors such as institutions and hedge funds that buy and hold large amounts of bitcoin or other crypto assets. Third-party firms like BitGo handle the storage and security of these sizable digital asset holdings.

The custody solutions are generally a combination of online and offline storage systems. But from what it appears, these bespoke secure digital currency storage services are only available for institutional investors. The latest Ledger data dump now suggests that retail cryptocurrency market participants could also benefit from such solutions. 

Cold cryptocurrency wallets are considered to provide the highest security level when it comes to the storage of crypto assets. But with popular wallet companies like Ledger being targeted in such egregious breaches, this might be the only way out for ‘the average crypto Joe’.