Ledger Chief Technology Officer Charles Guillemet said the hardware wallet sector should follow responsible vulnerability disclosure principles, arguing that flaws should be reported privately to manufacturers first and disclosed publicly only through a coordinated process after fixes are prepared.

Guillemet said responsible disclosure should center on a coordinated model in which researchers notify manufacturers unofficially, both sides agree on a deadline for a fix, and the vulnerability is then disclosed jointly. He criticized immediate public disclosure of flaws, saying it can create unnecessary panic for users.

According to Guillemet, the growing ease of finding vulnerabilities with AI raises the stakes for the hardware wallet industry. His warning was not about a newly confirmed exploit, but about how the industry handles the period between discovery and remediation when users may still be exposed.

He also urged users to keep software updated and follow basic security practices, while encouraging researchers to report issues through official channels. The comments frame wallet security as both a technical and communications problem, especially when disclosures reach users before clear mitigation guidance is available.

The remarks come amid a dispute linked to vulnerabilities raised by TestMachine. Ledger rejected claims that it had failed to fix those flaws before they were disclosed. Guillemet also said several organizations had agreed to adopt coordinated disclosure as an industry principle, though no further details were provided in the available information.

Why It Matters

The episode matters because self-custody depends heavily on user trust in wallet hardware, firmware, and vendor security processes. Even when no active loss event is confirmed, disputes over how vulnerabilities are disclosed can shape how users judge the safety of holding assets outside centralized platforms.

It also highlights a wider industry issue: AI may lower the barrier to finding software and device weaknesses, increasing pressure on vendors and researchers to align on disclosure norms. For crypto infrastructure providers, security handling is becoming as important as product design in maintaining credibility.