Encrypted hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has launched an investigation into reports of customer funds being stolen, with these customers having purchased products from one of its authorized distributors in Southeast Asia.
Ledger On Friday, it was confirmed that the company is investigating reports of encrypted asset theft involving CryptoBilis, an authorized distributor in Malaysia.
As a preventive measure, Ledger has urged CryptoBilis to suspend the sale and shipment of all Ledger hardware wallets until the investigation is completed.
In addition, Ledger urgently reminds customers who purchased products from this dealer within the past 90 days that if they have not initialized their wallets yet, they should not proceed with initialization.
For users who have already initialized their wallets, Ledger suggests that they may consider transferring their encrypted assets to a new Ledger hardware wallet and using a new recovery phrase.
It is currently unclear how these alleged thefts occurred, nor is it known whether any hardware was compromised.
Binance Founder CZ responds
Binance Co-founder Zhao Changpeng ( CZ ) responded to this incident, stating that these alleged thefts may be the result of a supply chain attack involving counterfeit or tampered hardware wallets.
“If you use the Ledger HW wallet, be careful. Especially if you just bought it recently,” CZ stated on X.
According to the information currently available, Zhao Changpeng pointed out that this seems to have only occurred with one distributor, and possibly only a few customers received the damaged devices.
CZ is also defending Ledger in the cryptocurrency community. He stated that Ledger is, after all, one of the oldest and safest hardware wallet manufacturers.
CZ hopes that the members of the BNB ecosystem and the entire cryptocurrency industry can trace these stolen funds and find a way to recover them.
Even the former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpel expressed his views on this matter. CryptoBilis is located in Malaysia, which is also the country where he allegedly received a tampered Ledger device.
His comments have also raised more doubts about the security of hardware wallets sold through third-party distributors. However, it is not yet clear whether there is any connection between these two incidents.
Losses may have exceeded $86 million.
Meanwhile, blockchain investigator Specter estimates that the losses caused by these potential thefts have exceeded 86 million US dollars.
According to this blockchain investigator, there may be hundreds of encrypted wallets distributed across the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron networks that have been affected.
However, Ledger has not yet confirmed this alleged loss, nor has it confirmed whether all incidents are related to this particular distributor.
Ledger promises to continuously update the community on the progress of the investigation. The company also encourages users who may be affected to contact them through their official support channels.
