Hardware wallet maker Ledger is currently in talks to raise at least $100 million, according to a report published this week by Bloomberg which quotes “people familiar with the plans”.
big Book hardware wallets are a form of cold storage, meaning they allow crypto investors to store their digital assets offline in a physical device. This gives users the power to manage their own crypto without having to worry about their provider’s liquidity.
According Bloomberg’s source, Ledger’s business continues to grow at a time when lenders and exchanges have well-known liquidity problems.
Struggling crypto firms often halt customer withdrawals to stop a possible bank run. Singapore Zipmex Exchange is the last examplebut lenders like Vault and Celsius have both used the measure recently, the latter bankruptcy filing shortly after.
These concerns have, sources say, boosted Ledger’s business as individuals turn to self-custody solutions rather than keeping their funds in a centralized platform.
Today’s reports come about a year after the company raised $380 million. In June 2021, Ledger’s Series C funding round, led by Dan Tapiero’s 10T Holdings, propelled it to a total implied valuation of $1.5 billion.
The wallet provider has also expanded to crypto debit cards. Last winterhe published the Crypto Life Card (CL) on the Visa network. When used to pay merchants, the CL card immediately converts crypto to fiat from a secure wallet.
Ledger has not yet responded to Decrypt‘s inquiries about its reported increase.
Keeping an eye on crypto wallets
Over the past few months, there has been intense debate among policymakers about whether non-hosted crypto wallets, especially the type manufactured by Ledger, should be subject to know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. ).
If so, these wallet providers will need to provide personal information about wallet users.
Ledger and Trezor are hardware examples of non-hosted wallets, also known as non-custodial wallets, which do not depend on third parties. Other examples include software wallets like Metamask and Wallet Connect.
Earlier this year, the parliament of the European Union voted overwhelmingly for to impose new regulatory measures to prohibit anonymous crypto transactions.
The European Parliament proposals require crypto service providers to collect personally identifiable information from individuals who transact over €1,000 (~$1,022) using non-hosted wallets.
In contrast, last June the UK government abandoned a similar plan to enforce KYC on non-hosted wallets after soliciting feedback from various respondents, including academics and industry experts.
Opponents of the potential reporting requirement have argued that the burden of imposing it would “disproportionately” outweigh its effectiveness in curbing illicit transactions.
According to a document published by the UK Treasury at the time: “Instead of requiring the collection of beneficiary and originator information for all non-hosted wallet transfers, crypto-asset businesses will only be expected to collect this information for transactions identified as presenting a high risk of illicit financing”.
In the same month, a representative of the United States Treasury Department stated that the Treasury was “working to address unique risks associated with non-hosted wallets,” although it is unclear at this stage whether the measures would involve imposing KYC rules on non-custodial wallets.
