Ledger Nano X Review: The Convenient Default, With Trust Attached

The Nano X remains the device we hand to people who want to get their coins off an exchange this week rather than research the category for a month. That recommendation comes with an asterisk that has grown, not shrunk, since launch.

What it does better than anything else

Bluetooth pairing turns hardware custody from a desk ritual into something you can do from a sofa, and in practice a wallet people actually use is safer than one left in a drawer. Asset coverage is the widest in the category, and Ledger Live is the most complete companion application any hardware vendor ships — portfolio view, staking, swaps and firmware management in one place.

The trust question

Ledger's firmware is closed source. The secure element has never been publicly extracted, which is a genuine credential, but users cannot verify the code that handles their keys and must rely on the company's process instead. The 2020 customer database breach continues to generate targeted phishing against owners years later, and the optional key-recovery service demonstrated that the device's capabilities can be extended by a firmware update in directions some buyers never anticipated.

Nothing here is evidence of a compromise. It is evidence that you are trusting a company as well as a chip.

Verdict: 4 out of 5

Buy it for convenience and coverage, and buy it directly from the manufacturer. Readers who weight verifiability above usability should look at an open-firmware alternative instead.

Tested for six weeks alongside two competing devices. Purchased at retail by Bitcoin Bounty Hunter.