Ledger chief executive Pascal Gauthier has warned that everyone will eventually be hacked, revealing that thieves stole roughly $90 million from compromised company devices.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, the head of the French hardware wallet manufacturer said the stolen funds were taken from devices distributed by an authorised reseller across Southeast Asia.
Gauthier admitted that unknown attackers siphoned the money from hardware units sold by the reseller CryptoBilis in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The perpetrators used an illicit tracking module to carry out the theft, which Gauthier said accounted for approximately 0.01 percent of all digital assets secured by Ledger.
He lamented the incident and stated that perfect security does not exist in the digital world. He added that at some point, every system and every individual will face a cyberattack.
The Case For Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets, often referred to as cold storage, are dedicated physical devices designed to hold the private cryptographic keys that grant access to cryptocurrency holdings. Unlike online software wallets or accounts hosted on centralised trading platforms, these compact devices remain disconnected from the internet, protecting sensitive credentials from remote online breaches. Based in Paris, Ledger is one of the most prominent manufacturers in the sector, producing devices that secure digital tokens for millions of retail and institutional investors.
Despite the breach of devices sold by CryptoBilis, Gauthier maintained that self-custody using cold wallets remains the safest method for storing digital wealth. He argued that a security compromise on a centralised exchange drains a shared pool of customer funds, causing widespread losses for many people at once, whereas a compromised hardware wallet typically affects only a single person.
At the same time, the French executive acknowledged that centralised exchanges like Binance remain essential infrastructure for the wider cryptocurrency market. He called on the industry to direct greater resources toward tracking down and catching cybercriminals rather than relying solely on defensive measures.
Rising Losses And Artificial Intelligence
The scale of financial theft across the sector has escalated rapidly. Gauthier said industry data indicates that criminals stole roughly $9 billion from cryptocurrency platforms and private wallets last year, with total losses already reaching approximately $12 billion in 2026.
Gauthier attributed this sharp rise in stolen funds directly to the swift evolution of artificial intelligence. Malicious actors are increasingly using artificial intelligence tools to make their cyberattacks far cheaper, faster, and simpler to execute.
Looking to the future, the Ledger executive also expressed serious concern about the threat posed by quantum computing to modern cryptographic standards. Citing research from analysts at Google Quantum AI, Gauthier noted that cracking the core cryptography protecting Bitcoin could require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, though a quantum computer with that level of processing capability does not yet exist.
Crypto Platforms Shift To Bunker Mode
The warnings from Gauthier arrive as digital asset firms face intense strain from government watchdogs and organised cybercriminals. Vitalik Buterin, who co-founded the Ethereum blockchain network, previously warned that survival, rather than competition, has become the primary goal for cryptocurrency exchanges, asset depositories, and major digital financial institutions.
Buterin stated that digital asset platforms are shifting into what he described as bunker mode to endure relentless cyberattacks and heightened regulatory oversight.
