Ledger investigates potential wallet tampering tied to Southeast Asia reseller

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Ledger wallet tampering probe

Highlights

Ledger is investigating potential missing funds linked to devices sold by Southeast Asia reseller CryptoBilis, with total losses and affected users unconfirmed.
Pseudonymous investigator Specter estimates more than $86 million in cryptocurrency may have been stolen from hundreds of wallets involving Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron.
Ledger has suspended CryptoBilis sales and shipments, advising recent customers not to activate devices and warning of possible supply-chain attack but has not confirmed the cause.

Investigation focuses on reseller-linked devices

As reported by CoinDesk, citing Ledger, the hardware wallet maker is investigating reports that missing funds may be tied to devices sold by CryptoBilis, a reseller in Southeast Asia. The company says it has not confirmed the reported loss total, the number of affected users or the cause of the incidents.

Pseudonymous blockchain investigator Specter says on X that more than $86 million in cryptocurrency may have been stolen from hundreds of wallets. Specter says suspected theft addresses span Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron after reports from Ledger users on X and Reddit, but it remains unclear whether the cases are connected.

As a precaution, Ledger says it asked CryptoBilis to pause all sales and shipments while the investigation continues. Customers who bought devices from the reseller within the past 90 days are advised not to set them up, while those who already activated wallets should consider moving assets to a new Ledger device with a newly generated recovery phrase.

Potential security implications for crypto market

One possible explanation is a supply-chain attack, in which hardware wallets are tampered with before they reach customers. In that scenario, an attacker could distribute a device with a recovery phrase already known to them, allowing later access to funds deposited into the wallet.

That would differ from a breach of Ledger's own systems, but there is no confirmation that device tampering or pre-generated recovery phrases caused the reported losses. The incident remains under investigation, and the scale of any theft has not been independently verified.

The case emerges during a difficult year for crypto security. Last month, crypto exchange Bitget suffered an exploit resulting in more than $350 million in stolen assets, while other major incidents included Liquid Network at about $320 million, Drift at $295 million and Kelp at $293 million, according to DefiLlama data.

Ledger says it will provide updates as the investigation progresses.

Our earlier report covered the Enforcement Directorate’s widened probe into alleged cooperative bank and society fraud cases in Kerala, involving estimated crime proceeds of about ₹550 crore. It detailed coordinated searches across multiple premises, the seizure of property and loan-related documents, and the freezing of deposits as investigators focused on tracing funds and prioritizing recovery for thousands of affected depositors.

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