Ledger CTO Warns Coldcard RNG Flaw Highlights AI-Era Hardware Wallet Security Risks

Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet cites Coldcard vulnerability to stress RNG criticality, noting AI accelerates attacks. Ledger confirms its secure element RNG remains unaffected by the incident.

Woofun AI reports that Ledger Chief Technology Officer Charles Guillemet identified the Coldcard vulnerability as evidence of critical weaknesses in hardware wallet random number generation. Guillemet emphasized that AI is fundamentally reshaping cybersecurity dynamics, enabling attackers to scan code and identify flaws at machine speed, which necessitates defenses based on secure design, hardware, and mathematics. He argued that open-source code alone does not guarantee security without thorough review.

Guillemet stated that Ledger’s devices remain unaffected because their mnemonic phrases are generated by a hardware random number generator within a certified secure element, with no software fallback path, producing a complete 256-bit random number each time. He advised users to verify how a wallet generates random numbers and whether it holds independent certification before purchase.