Official Setup Guide for Ledger Wallets
Your all-in-one crypto wallet app to confidently and conveniently manage all your digital assets from one secure place while keeping your private keys offline, far from hackers' reach.
Download Ledger Live for your device
Hardware wallets represent the gold standard in cryptocurrency security
Your private keys remain offline in a secure element chip, isolated from internet threats and malware attacks.
You and only you control your digital assets. No third party can access, freeze, or seize your cryptocurrency holdings.
Your 24-word recovery phrase ensures you can restore access even if your device is lost, stolen, or damaged.
Manage Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over 5,500 cryptocurrencies and tokens from one secure interface.
A comprehensive educational guide for protecting your digital assets
In the digital age, cryptocurrency represents a revolutionary form of wealth—but with great innovation comes great responsibility. Unlike traditional banking where institutions safeguard your money, cryptocurrency operates on a self-custody model. This means you are your own bank, and the security of your assets rests entirely in your hands. The challenge? The internet is hostile territory filled with sophisticated hackers, phishing schemes, malware, and social engineering attacks designed to separate you from your digital wealth.
Software wallets, while convenient, store your private keys on internet-connected devices. This creates an attack surface that cybercriminals actively exploit. Keyloggers can record your passwords, malware can hijack transactions, and clipboard hijackers can redirect your funds to attacker-controlled addresses. Even the most security-conscious users face risks from zero-day exploits and supply chain attacks they cannot predict or prevent.
Ledger hardware wallets solve this fundamental security problem through physical isolation. Your private keys—the cryptographic credentials that prove ownership of your cryptocurrency—never touch your computer, phone, or the internet. They are generated and stored within a tamper-resistant secure element chip, the same technology protecting credit cards and government-issued identification documents.
When you want to send cryptocurrency, the transaction details are sent to your Ledger device. Inside this secure environment, isolated from internet threats, your device signs the transaction using your private key. The signed transaction is then sent back to your computer—but crucially, your private key never leaves the device. Even if your computer is completely compromised with malware, attackers cannot extract your keys or forge unauthorized transactions.
This architecture creates a security model where physical access to your device plus knowledge of your PIN code are required to authorize transactions. It transforms cryptocurrency security from a software challenge vulnerable to remote attacks into a physical security problem where you maintain complete control.
When you initialize your Ledger device, it generates a 24-word recovery phrase using industry-standard BIP39 methodology. This phrase is a human-readable representation of your master seed—the cryptographic foundation from which all your private keys are mathematically derived. Understanding and properly securing this phrase is absolutely critical to cryptocurrency ownership.
Your recovery phrase is more important than your device. If your Ledger is lost, stolen, damaged, or malfunctions, this phrase allows you to restore complete access to your funds on a replacement device. It is the skeleton key to your cryptocurrency kingdom. Consequently, anyone who obtains this phrase gains full, irreversible control over your assets.
Never store your recovery phrase digitally—no photographs, no cloud storage, no password managers, no exceptions. Write it on the provided recovery sheet and store it in a secure physical location like a safe. Consider advanced strategies like splitting the phrase across multiple secure locations or using metal backup solutions resistant to fire and flood. Treat your recovery phrase with the same security you would apply to large amounts of cash, because that is precisely what it represents.
Phishing attacks represent one of the most prevalent threats in cryptocurrency. Attackers create fake versions of popular websites, apps, and even hardware wallet interfaces to trick users into revealing their recovery phrases or sending funds to malicious addresses. Ledger's secure element chip displays transaction details on the device's screen, allowing you to verify exactly what you're signing before confirming. This out-of-band verification ensures that even if your computer displays fraudulent information, you can catch the deception.
Supply chain attacks targeting hardware wallets have been documented, where attackers intercept devices during shipping to install backdoors or pre-generate recovery phrases. Ledger addresses this through cryptographic attestation—your device proves its authenticity by demonstrating that its firmware and secure element are genuine and unmodified. Always purchase directly from Ledger or authorized resellers, and verify the device's authenticity when you first set it up.
Malware and remote access trojans (RATs) can control your computer completely, but they cannot extract your private keys from a Ledger device. The secure element's architecture prevents this even if attackers have total control over your operating system. This isolation is why hardware wallets are recommended even for users with excellent computer security practices—they provide defense in depth against threats you may not even realize exist.
Everything you need to know about Ledger wallet security
Ledger will NEVER ask for your 24-word recovery phrase. Anyone requesting this information is attempting to steal your cryptocurrency. Always download Ledger Live only from the official ledger.com website. Beware of phishing emails, fake customer support, and fraudulent browser extensions.