Ledger Hardware Wallets

Ledger (France) — second-most popular hardware wallet line. Models based on Secure Element (SE) chips.

Models

Model	Year	Notes
Nano S	2016 (deprecated)	First popular Ledger; SE + MCU
Nano X	2019	Bluetooth, larger screen
Nano S Plus	2022	Successor to Nano S, more memory
Stax	2023	Touchscreen, e-ink
Flex	2024	2.8in E Ink touchscreen, BLE + NFC
Nano Gen5	2025	First touchscreen Nano; E Ink, BLE + NFC

As of September 2026 Ledger's comparison page sells five models — Stax, Flex, Nano Gen5, Nano X, Nano S Plus — so the Nano S Plus is still current, not discontinued. The Nano Gen5 was unveiled on 23 October 2025 (launch price $179): 2.8in monochrome E Ink touchscreen (300x400), USB-C, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, ST33K1M5 secure element (CC EAL6+). Stax and Flex screens are 16-level grayscale E Ink, not color.

BOLOS architecture

Ledger devices run BOLOS (Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System). Each cryptocurrency has a separate app loaded onto the device:

Bitcoin app (bitcoin-app-developer)
Ethereum app
Various altcoins.

App switching during use (close old, open new). Apps signed by Ledger.

Bitcoin app

Functions:

Get xpub at any path.
Generate addresses.
Sign txs (legacy mode).
Sign PSBTs (modern mode, since v2.0+).

Connection

USB (HID).
Bluetooth (Nano X / Stax / Flex / Nano Gen5).
NFC (Stax / Flex / Nano Gen5) — used for the Ledger Recovery Key.
Ledger Wallet (desktop / mobile) — renamed from Ledger Live at the October 2025 launch event; as of September 2026 ledger.com/ledger-live 301-redirects to the Ledger Wallet page. Search for "Ledger Wallet" to find the desktop app.
Third-party: HWI, Sparrow, Specter, Electrum, Wasabi.

Anti-klepto

Defense against compromised firmware leaking the seed via deterministic-looking signatures (DUSEC attack):

Host provides random aux_rand.
Device combines with internal randomness.
Final nonce derivation uses both → tamper-evident if firmware tries to leak seed.

Recovery service (controversial)

In May 2023, Ledger announced "Recover" — optional opt-in service that splits seed into encrypted shards stored by 3rd parties. Backlash: critics argued device firmware can extract seed.

Legitimate users can opt-out / never enable.

API

ledger-bitcoin (Python):

from ledger_bitcoin import Client, ChainID
with Client(transport=connect_hid_or_ble(), chain=ChainID.MAIN) as client:
    pk = client.get_extended_pubkey("m/84'/0'/0'")
    psbt_signed = client.sign_psbt(psbt, wallet_policy, hmac=None)

JavaScript: @ledgerhq/hw-app-btc.

PSBT support

Modern Ledger (v2+) supports PSBT directly. Older Ledger requires legacy "raw tx + path" flow.

Multi-sig: Ledger requires "wallet policies" — registered descriptor on the device with HMAC for trust binding.

Common issues

Wrong app: app for different chain open instead of Bitcoin.
Path mismatch: Ledger Wallet (formerly Ledger Live) defaults to BIP44 even for segwit; third-party tools must override to BIP84/86.
Bluetooth Nano X: occasional connection drops, prefer USB.
Wallet policy registration: required for multisig; first-time setup confusing.

bitcoin-hardware-ledger