TLDR Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès says Ledger received reports of spy hardware implants as early as December 2025. He claims better communication could have prevented more than $90 millio
Mark Karpelès, the former CEO of the Mt. Gox exchange, has publicly criticized hardware wallet maker Ledger. He says the company did not respond well to early warnings about spy hardware hidden inside its devices.
The criticism centers on a supply chain attack linked to CryptoBillis, a Ledger reseller. Users who bought devices from the reseller lost more than $90 million.
Karpelès said Ledger received reports of hardware implants as early as December 2025. He said the company’s only public response was a blog post about a compromise in March 2026.
He believes clearer communication could have prevented the losses. “I do know a better communication on this at the time could have saved 90+ million USD in losses,” Karpelès wrote on X.
I'm not sure MtGox has anything to do with that. You received multiple reports of implants in early 2026, and by March you published an article that showed both the hand-made style of implants Joe Grand saw (with the improvised LTE antenna) and the high budget mass produced…
— Mark Karpelès (@MagicalTux) October 17, 2026
He added that he could not understand how the company failed to be alarmed by “mass-produced advanced implants.”
Karpelès also admitted his own failures at Mt. Gox. He said he held Ledger to a higher standard because he “trusted you to do better by learning of my failure.”
Ledger’s Gauthier rejected the criticism. He described Karpelès’ comments as virtue signalling and pointed to his past at Mt. Gox.
The exchange between the two became personal. It moved away from the main question of whether the attack and the stolen funds could have been avoided.
Karpelès also accused Ledger of downplaying the incident. He said the company treated it as limited to CryptoBillis, even though similar implants were reported in other regions.
Ledger has disputed reports that devices in Europe were affected. The company reached that view after analyzing a reported case in Germany.
Karpelès disagreed and said the attack reached further. He said he had helped several users check their devices for signs of tampering.
He asked Ledger to share clearer information. “An end user doesn’t know that, and shouldn’t have to worry if their device is altered or not,” he wrote.
Many members of the crypto community sided with Karpelès. They pressed Ledger to be more open about the attack.
In early October, Ledger confirmed that devices sold by CryptoBillis contained unauthorized implants. The implants scanned users’ seed phrases and sent them to a private server.
Ledger paused sales from CryptoBillis and the wider Southeast Asian region. Losses from the attack later passed $100 million.
Other wallet makers, including Trezor and OneKey, removed third-party resellers. They also tightened checks on how their devices are distributed.
As of October 18, Ledger maintains that the compromise is limited to Southeast Asia. Karpelès and others continue to claim the attack has spread to other regions.
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