GridPlus to open source wallet firmware in Q3 amid Ledger debacle

Amidst Ledger’s controversial decision to allow private keys to be “recovered” from its devices, cold storage competitor GridPlus has announced it will be moving its crypto wallet’s firmware to “open source”.

GridPlus took to Twitter on May 17 to inform its 17,500 followers that it will open source the firmware of all its crypto devices in the third quarter of this year, which it claims is in a bid for greater transparency.

The most trusted name in cryptography, trusted by the world’s governments for decades for their highest security applications, products sold through the backdoor by the CIA. How can we be sure this will not happen again? open source software.

GridPlus will open-source its firmware in the third quarter. pic.twitter.com/889OnqXd20

— GridPlus (@gridplus) May 18, 2023

In a follow-up comment, GridPlus wrote, “This week’s hardware wallet discussions fueled notions of bare trust.”

“We as an industry must hold ourselves to the highest standards and we call on all other hardware wallet manufacturers to open-source their firmware as well for the benefit of our ecosystem.”

Much of the anger directed at Ledger over the past 48 hours has stemmed from its firmware – a term for software that is built into a hardware device – being updated that allegedly hides users’ private keys from their cold storage, despite assurances that Will allow to remove from device. Unlike in the user past.

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Notably, Ledger’s firmware is closed source, meaning that only the company’s developers can view the code and inspect it for flaws. On the other hand open source code allows any programmer to use and inspect the already existing code to improve it and check for possible errors.

Speaking straight to the point in the May 17 Q&A Session On Twitter, Ledger support clarified that it was “always possible” for the company to write code that would allow key extraction should users trust Ledger.

(1/2) Technically it has always been possible to write firmware and facilitate key extraction. You have always trusted Ledger not to deploy such firmware whether you knew it or not.

– Ledger Support (@Ledger_Support) May 17, 2023

While Ledger’s announcement shattered many users’ understanding of the privacy features its products offered, some did suggested That the outrage has been blown out of proportion.

It appears that competitors have been quick to capitalize on Ledger’s poorly-received announcement, with some opting to offer discounts on the bulk of their products, including TreasureBlockstream’s Jade and bitbox,

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