Ledger CEO Rebukes Former Mt. Gox Chief Over Wallet Implant Warnings

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier rebuked former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès over the company’s handling of hardware-wallet implant warnings after Karpelès argued clearer communication might have limited losses.

“Coming from the Mt Gox CEO… Come on man, you are no white knight. Get real,” Gauthier wrote on X. Karpelès replied, “I was hoping you guys were better than that,” and estimated clearer communication could have prevented more than $90 million in losses. That figure is Karpelès’ estimate, not a confirmed loss total; no aggregate figure has been disclosed.

The exchange follows Karpelès’ earlier warning about the gap between traced outflows and confirmed losses.

An unauthorized implant was found in one affected user’s genuine Ledger device. It was designed to capture recovery phrases during setup, after the device had left Ledger’s control. The incident was a localized distribution attack, and Ledger’s chip, operating system and servers were not compromised. Samples Ledger examined in Germany and other markets were clean.

Genuine Check verifies the Secure Element, but cannot detect physical modifications if the chip remains intact. Ledger’s buying guidance, last updated Sept. 18, includes that limitation. The investigation findings were last updated Oct. 15.