Ledger Halts Southeast Asia Distribution as Wallet Theft Reports Probed

Ledger paused sales and shipments through Southeast Asian distributor CryptoBilis while investigating reported thefts from customer wallets. The company told recent buyers not to set up unused devices and advised activated users to move assets to a new wallet with a fresh recovery phrase. Changpeng Zhao and others suggested the incident may have involved a supply-chain attack, though the scope remains unclear.

Ledger, based in Paris, is investigating reports involving devices bought from CryptoBilis, a Malaysian authorized reseller. It asked the distributor to pause sales and shipments. Buyers from the past 90 days who have not set up their wallets were told to wait; activated users were advised to move funds to a new Ledger device with a fresh recovery phrase.

Changpeng Zhao suggested a compromise in the supply chain involving counterfeit or altered hardware, possibly tied to one seller and few devices. Mark Karpeles repeated a claim about a tampered unit from Malaysia, but no verified link exists. Researcher Specter estimated losses above $86 million across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron wallets; Ledger has not confirmed that figure.