Ledger has gone on record saying that they have always had the ability to pull seed phrase from users' devices.
Assuming they had the appropriate code ready and part of earlier firmware versions. That begs the question, why would they not tell people about it earlier? Or the even more important question, if they were trying to hide having that code, why would they announce it now (at all)?
Because had the ledger told it earlier, the current shitstorm would have happened even then. And these are serious reputational losses, loss of customers and profits. It is clear that not a single manufacturer will agree to such an action unless absolutely necessary, which happened to this company.
Ledger has now announced this in an attempt to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the crypto community after its resonant failure. They try to emphasize that "
Look, there was a possibility to take seed phrases before, but we didn't touch it. It means we can be trusted." With the help of this recognition, the illusion of reliability of the company is created. Like if they didn't take advantage of it before, it won't happen in the future either. That's just to believe in this can only be completely not smart people.
I have only one question for them: why did the ledger introduce this code at all?
I see this as intent on their part. Intent directed against their clients.
I'm sorry to digress from the original topic, but you asked me questions and I was obliged to answer it.
Everything rests on faith and hope, which is unacceptable in the case of finances.
Faith + Hope = Trust. You always needed trust in Ledger because of their closed-source nature, and that's the tradeoff people who purchased their hardware made. But Ledger Recover is a next-level craziness that should never have happened.
I actually expected a bigger response and more questions from the wider community of all hardware wallet users following the knowledge that secure elements aren't safe enclosures for private keys. They are only safe if the developers decide to make them safe, which doesn't have to be the case as we saw with Ledger Recover. For now, everyone seems content watching the Ledger (and now Safepal) forests burn, hoping the fire won't spread to their trees.
As it turned out, the ledger neglected the trust of customers and even abused it. Now it's so obvious.
Craziness with Ledger Recover nevertheless happened (sorry, the implementation is delayed for a while) and now it becomes curious, but what new craziness are they preparing for the future? From ledger now you can expect anything.
Well, after I learned a very important and rather expensive lesson (loss of almost the entire portfolio), I urgently decided to buy a hardware wallet. Fortunately for me, Ledger was not available at that time, so I decided on Trezor One, which I received in the shortest possible time.
A few months ago I won a Ledger Nano-X in the Betnomi raffle, I thought it was great, to familiarize myself with this piece of hardware, and then give it as a gift (plus some funds on there) to my niece. Unfortunately, it will now be just a useless toy.
~snip
Why useless toy. I suppose if you already have this device, then you can continue to use it. But with reservations, like keeping only small amounts for the same small expenses. Of course, any long-term cypto hold is out of the question.
Another option: leave this device in case of a $5 attack with a wrench - give this wallet in case of threats with a certain amount of money to get off with little blood.
