Mark Karpelès Says Ledger Support Overstated Genuine Check’s Reach

Mark Karpelès, former CEO of Mt. Gox, challenged Ledger Support’s account of its wallet authentication check, arguing it conflicts with a documented limit on detecting physical modifications.

Ledger’s Genuine Check verifies the authenticity of a wallet’s Secure Element, the device’s security chip, but it cannot detect unauthorized physical changes if the original chip remains intact. Passing the check therefore does not establish that other parts of a device are unmodified.

Karpelès said Ledger Support had described the Secure Element as able to detect physical tampering and claimed a wallet with added hardware designed to intercept signals would fail the check. He argued that this assurance conflicts with Ledger’s documented limitation and questioned whether it could mislead users.

On Oct. 15, Ledger described related incidents as distribution-channel attacks by a highly organized group and asked authorized resellers and distributors in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to suspend sales. The dispute follows earlier spyware concerns involving Ledger devices.