Chief Executive Officer Pascal Gauthier blamed the layoffs on market conditions but said the company would drive growth in operations and products.

Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger announced in a blog post on Oct. 5 that it will lay off a significant number of its employees while continuing operations.

The company’s CEO Pascal Gauthier wrote in a letter:

“Macroeconomic headwinds have limited our ability to generate revenue, and in response to current market conditions and business realities… we are making the difficult decision to reduce Ledger’s position by 12%.”

Despite these shortcomings, Gauthier said Ledger was prepared for the “bear market” of early 2022 and had some success in doing so. He claimed that Ledger was one of the few cryptocurrency companies to raise significant funds in the first two quarters of 2023.

Gauthier did not suggest that Ledger should reduce its activities. Instead, he said the company remains a leader in the space and said existing priorities remain.

Ledger will move forward with Recover

Gauthier also mentioned the upcoming launch of Ledger Recover, a feature that allows users to regain access to their wallets after losing critical information. Ledger Recover caused great controversy in May 2023 because it requires storing data with a third party. While Ledger insists that this feature is optional, critics complain that the hardware and firmware features that support recovery are themselves a risk.

Gauthier did not explicitly address the controversy in his current letter. However, he called Recover "an essential service for the next wave of new users."

Gauthier also said that Ledger’s retail business “has never been more exciting." He reported an increase in usage, revenue, and transaction volume for the mobile app Ledger Live. He also described higher distribution of Ledger Nano devices and drew attention to a recently launched Ledger model called Ledger Stax, which features an e-ink display.

Ledger initially distributed Gauthier's letter to employees. The company said it published the letter publicly on its blog for transparency reasons.