Cryptocurrency thefts had reached nearly $8.7 billion in 2026, more than three times the amount stolen in 2025, making this the worst year for crypto hacks at the time of publication, according to DefiLlama.

Against that backdrop, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier warned that security breaches were inevitable across the industry: “Everybody will be hacked at some point,” and he expected conditions to worsen each year.

Gauthier argued that losses from hardware-wallet hacks were far smaller than those involving centralized platforms, citing a $6 billion Binance hack as evidence that decentralized security remained important.

Ledger said some of its devices contained an unauthorized hardware implant, an incident linked to nearly $90 million in losses; days later, rival Trezor reported a similar incident involving the same Malaysian reseller, CryptoBilis.

Gauthier urged the crypto community not to blame Binance, saying the attackers—not the company—were criminals and that the industry needed to confront the problem together.