Ledger wants to go beyond crypto wallets

Ledger is the world’s most famous crypto hardware wallet company. 

It is a French company that was founded in 2011 and has become famous precisely for its physical devices for the self-storage of tokens. 

Its most famous product, the Ledger Nano, hit the markets in 2014, which was the year of the first major crypto bear market, although it was preceded by the Trezor Model One from the Czech Republic company Trezor. 

After its incredible success over the years with hardware wallets, Ledger now wants to expand its horizons by looking at new businesses. 

Security for crypto according to Ledger wallet

Recently the CEO of Ledger, Pascal Gauthier, said that the company would also like to become a world leader in Internet security.

Hence adding to Ledger’s cryptocurrency wallets also new solutions to provide “a kind of everyday companion for users.”

Gauthier revealed this during an interview at the eighth BpiFrance Inno Generation, which was also attended by French Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Barrot not surprisingly also stressed the importance of Ledger’s presence in the French city of Vierzon. 

Ledger’s CEO stated that the future of hardware wallets is the combination of money and digital identity, saying that current physical wallets are impractical and insecure.

Bridging this gap for Gauthier will require “dematerializing” them, so as to get to the point of providing a complete solution that users can use every day for identity verifications, for example. 

Indeed, there is much to be done in the field of cybersecurity, as evidenced for example by the recent Binance Smart Chain hack, which was top-notch. In some cases, there are even states behind these attacks, such as North Korea, so it is very difficult to keep up with the hackers.  

According to Gauthier, within the crypto ecosystem there would currently be too little security, partly because, he reminded, “wherever there is money, there are thieves.” He also admitted that perfect security does not exist, but revealed that there will be a lot of business developed in this specific area in the future, especially regarding tokenized digital identity.

Mass adoption of cryptocurrencies according to the CEO of Ledger wallet

He also revealed that at the moment most large companies do not yet have many concrete reasons to use cryptocurrencies, but claims that it is only a matter of time before they arrive. 

He said: 

“To make a comparison with the development of the Internet, with cryptocurrencies we are like in the mid-1990s, as they still remain an activity for “geeks.” Apple’s iPhone changed the mobile Internet user experience because it managed to simplify everything. Cryptocurrencies will function properly when they reach the same milestone.”

Global expansion 

Ledger currently has its logistics center still in Vierzon, France, but in the future, it will be an increasingly global company. In fact, they are already increasing production rates abroad, such as in Vietnam, Taiwan or Poland.

To date, all of Ledger’s hardware wallets are still sent from Vierzon, so much so that as much as 20% of packages shipped from France to the US with FedEx are Ledger wallets. 

Thus for Ledger, it is not only about moving beyond their flagship product, but also about becoming an increasingly globalized company with a presence in countries outside of France. 

The Ballon d’Or

In the meantime, the company continues to promote its hardware wallets with intensive marketing efforts. 

For example, this year it gave the winners of the Ballon d’Or a unique NFT and a gold-plated Ledger Nano. 

🏆 ⚽ The top prize in football deserves top-level security!

This year’s #BallondOr winners won’t just be taking home a trophy – they’ll also receive a unique NFT, and a golden Ledger Nano to secure it on 🔐 pic.twitter.com/LktdrgzuDn

— Ledger (@Ledger) October 17, 2022

The initiative has made the rounds, both because the Ballon d’Or is the world’s highest award for an individual soccer player and because it is the first time that an NFT has also been attached to this award. 

This is a unique virtual trophy, in terms of metadata, created on the blockchain. This ensures that the ownership of the virtual trophy belongs solely and exclusively to the soccer player who received it. 

The NFT that was attached to the trophy is its digital copy, delivered along with the Ledger. $

Hardware wallets

Hardware wallets are the preferred solution mainly for individuals to safely store their cryptocurrencies. 

Typically, large enterprises use different, more complex and structured systems, but individuals prefer simpler solutions. 

As for secure self-storage they are actually probably the best solution, recommended by many, although they have some limitations. 

They are certainly not as convenient to use as, say, an app on a smartphone, but they certainly allow a higher level of security. However, they have the major limitation of requiring secure storage in turn, because being the size of USB sticks they can easily be lost. 

They protect private keys, which makes them extremely difficult to attack. What’s more, now more and more online services using cryptocurrencies, such as exchanges, allow a direct link to physical wallets, and this is making them a bit more convenient to use. 

Since their inception in 2014, they have always remained probably the safest solution for all private citizens who want to securely self-custody their cryptocurrencies without having to entrust them to a third party.