Ledger CEO Warns ‘Everybody Will Be Hacked’ as AI Raises Risks
Pascal Gauthier says no company can promise perfect security, including Ledger, as AI strengthens attackers and crypto custody faces renewed scrutiny.
Key Notes
- Pascal Gauthier says perfect security does not exist and applies that warning to Ledger itself.
- His $9 billion and $12 billion theft figures are attributed estimates with no methodology specified.
- Ledger’s technical documentation says a genuine secure element cannot rule out added spying hardware.
Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier says the cryptocurrency industry must prepare for increasingly capable attackers, warning that hardware-wallet makers share the same fundamental problem as centralized exchanges: security can improve without becoming perfect.
“Everybody will be hacked at some point. Perfect security doesn’t exist,” he said during a November 10 Bloomberg interview. Gauthier explicitly applied that warning to Ledger as well as other companies.
The Theft Figures Are His Estimates
Gauthier estimated that approximately $9 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen last year and $12 billion so far in 2026. He did not identify a dataset or explain which categories of losses those estimates include.
Published research provides a different reference point. Chainalysis’s December 18 theft analysis counted more than $3.4 billion stolen between January and early December 2025. Gauthier’s figures cannot be directly reconciled with that dataset without knowing his methodology and coverage.
The same Chainalysis study documented attacks on both centralized services and personal wallets. Its findings underline why shifting custody changes exposure rather than eliminating every route through which assets can be stolen.
Ledger’s Own Security Came Under Question
The interview followed the roughly $6.3 billion Binance breach. Gauthier argued that distributing control across individual wallets makes large-scale theft harder than attacking an institution holding substantial pooled assets.
Interviewers also challenged him about approximately $90 million in losses involving Ledger devices. He compared that amount with Binance’s much larger loss while acknowledging that his company is not immune to attacks.
That discussion follows Ledger’s October implant confirmation, when the manufacturer found unauthorized hardware inside one affected customer’s device. The finding established tampering in that unit while leaving the wider investigation’s scope unresolved.
AI and Quantum Computing Pose Different Challenges
Gauthier said AI is strengthening attackers and warned that quantum computing will create additional challenges. He presented worsening security pressure as an industry-wide problem requiring cooperation and action against criminals.
Quantum risk has a different technical timeline from today’s malware. NIST’s cryptography overview says nobody knows when a sufficiently capable quantum computer will threaten current systems. The agency has published post-quantum standards so organizations can begin preparing.
Preparing also requires time: NIST notes that integrating new algorithms into products and information systems can take years.
Authenticity Checks Have Limits
Ledger’s own threat model says its Genuine Check authenticates the secure element but cannot detect spying implants when that original component remains intact. An authentic chip therefore does not establish that the entire delivered device is unmodified.
Vitalik Buterin’s recent hardware-verification argument addresses that distinction. CoinScreamer’s broader custody explainer examines the responsibilities accompanying personal key control, including backups and trusted hardware. Gauthier’s preference for decentralized security is a risk assessment from a hardware-wallet manufacturer, rather than a guarantee for every holder.
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