if the hardware wallet company ledger goes out of business, what will happen to my crypto asset / private keys in ledger? I heard that the hardware wallet ledger is not open-source, so will the company get access to my private key? Will I be able to transfer my crypto elsewhere?
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2 Answers
Your keys are stored securely on the hardware device itself.
If Ledger (or Trezor) goes out of business then their wallet client will also most likely not be supported anymore.
This isn’t that much of an issue. Other wallets have support for interacting with your hardware wallet, like Electrum for BTC, Electron Cash for BCH, and MyEtherWallet’s website for ETH.
If you also have your seed written down, you can import that seed into Electrum. This is more of a last resort move though.
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1I gave specific coins as an example to answer the original question. Sorry this is so hard to understand for you. Certain forks of Electrum are safe. The code is open source. Crazy how that works.– user119327Commented Apr 13, 2021 at 14:12
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2I'd prefer if comments about other topics were posted on said other topic, they don't seem particularly relevant here. This question and answer pertain to cryptocurrencies in general including Bitcoin in particular. The topic seems to be well in the purview of "technologies or events that are applicable and relevant to the Bitcoin network and users of the Bitcoin currency in the past, present, or future". I don't see any content here that violates the rules of this site.– Murch ♦Commented Apr 13, 2021 at 14:29
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1@Prayank Questions have to be applicable to Bitcoin's technology, which means either specifically about Bitcoin-related things, or generic enough that the answer applies to several systems. I believe that is the case here. There is no rule that answers cannot mention other things if the answerer feels the question is best served that way. You trying to police everything said here in that regard is very disruptive (to me, and I assume to others as well) to people trying to just get good technical answers on this site. Commented Apr 13, 2021 at 16:58
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3Pretending altcoins don't exist doesn't serve anybody. There is a difference between trying to keep the site Bitcoin-focussed, and trying to censor the mere mention of other things. You can be more constructive for example by mentioning the dangers of various websites, or pointing out that using a hardware wallet for many systems at once does increase the threat surface (e.g. bugs in the Ledger's ETH code). Commented Apr 13, 2021 at 17:06
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2Makes sense. Will not edit mention of any altcoin however will highlight risks in future. Thanks.– user103136Commented Apr 13, 2021 at 17:30
if the hardware wallet company ledger goes out of business, what will happen to my crypto asset / private keys in ledger?
It's difficult to answer about other cryptocurrencies and security of each. This website is for Bitcoin and you should be fine even if hardware wallet company like ledger goes out of business because they don't have access to your private keys, seed and other backup information which can be used to access your bitcoin using open source wallets like Bitcoin Core, Electrum etc.
I heard that the hardware wallet ledger is not open-source, so will the company get access to my private key?
No they don't have access to your keys afaik. There are other hardware wallet options available as well: Coldcard, Trezor, Bitbox, Jade etc.
Ledger HW architecture: https://www.ledger.com/secure-hardware-and-open-source
Will I be able to transfer my crypto elsewhere?
Yes. You should always have multiple backups and keep them safe. They can be used to access your bitcoin. Test your backups regularly to ensure they work when required.