Ripple Executive David Schwartz Advises Ledger on How to Move Forward

David Schwartz, one of the most vocal Ripple Labs Inc executives, has shared a seven-point take on how crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger can end its current debacle and move forward from here. Taking to his official Twitter account, the Ripple CTO said the first thing the company needs to do is to apologize for the poorly thought out announcement that started all this.

I have a suggestion for Ledger that might end this debacle:

1) Apologize for the poorly thought out announcement.

2) Don't sign or release the firmware as planned.

3) Instead, create two firmware streams, one with recovery and one without. Ship the firmware without recovery.…

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) May 23, 2023

Basis of Ledger debacle

Ledger became the subject of much discussion in the crypto community following an update plan by the firm that can expose a user's seed phrase to the public. The fear of what might happen to their assets pushed many Ledger users to start transferring their assets from one wallet to other noncustodial wallet options.

With some users even demonstrating the destruction of their Ledger wallets on Twitter, the Ripple CTO believes that it will do much good if the company refuses to sign or release the firmware as planned.

Should the last suggestion be difficult to implement, Schwartz said Ledger can create two firmwares, one with the scheduled upgrade and the other without. The company can then ship the one without updates.

More on Ripple CTO's counsel

Considering the fact that the issue with the new update from Ledger is about safety concerns, the Ripple CTO said Ledger could "permit changing streams but wipe all key material in a stream change," a provision that will avoid any form of residual information lying idle online for hackers to steal.

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Additionally, Schwartz advised that Ledger could commit to not introducing a feature that can harm its users' key materials in the future. He also believes that promising publicly that it will always require key wiping when switching streams and also ensuring that it provides room for users to sign an agreement can protect its interests in the case of future lawsuits.

Related MetaMask PR crisis

With a crypto industry very sensitive to bad PR, MetaMask also faced a related crisis with news about ceding tax responsibilities to the government. The wallet provider has quickly clarified its stance, highlighting that the feature is for a specific offering that may not affect the majority of its users.