Ledger’s Shock Move: Why Did the ‘Hard Wallet King’ Abandon Its Crown?

The Fall of the King

I still remember the day I bought my first Ledger Nano S in 2017—$79, no frills, just raw security. Back then, it was the only device that let me hold private keys without trusting a cloud. For nearly a decade, it earned its crown—not because of marketing, but because of integrity.

Now, Ledger says ‘Nano S is reaching end-of-life.’ Memory constraints. No new app support after 2025. No ZK-SNARKs. No dApp upgrades. Just… silence.

The Real Crime Isn’t Obsolescence—It’s Control

Apple supports iOS updates on iPhone 6 for over a decade. Hardware wallets should be held to higher standards—not lower ones shaped by corporate profit motives.

Ledger Nano S runs on open-source firmware—but Ledger refuses to allow community patches. Why? Because if users could modify their own wallet, they wouldn’t need to buy Nano X or Passport Prime.

This isn’t technical limitation—it’s centralized control dressed as progress.

The Math Behind the Betrayal

4 million+ units sold. $500M+ in revenue potential locked in legacy devices.

Ledger doesn’t want you to stay loyal—they want you to upgrade to their new $299 wallet.

The rhetoric? ‘Security through obsolescence.’

The reality? Profit through coercion.

What Comes Next?

I’ve been building an open-source alternative since day one: modular, air-gapped wallets with community-maintained firmware.

Ledger built a throne—and then sat on it.

We don’t need kings. We need protocols, not products.