~snip~
Basically, he says that people in crypto world have accepted KYC and it's a normal here.
There is some truth in the fact that the majority have accepted KYC as a standard procedure, but still mostly when it comes to CEX
I don't think people have accepted KYC, people have no other choice. That is the reason why there is a demand on decentralized exchanges and why people use so many non-kyc casinos/instant-exchanges/mixers.
but this was never the case with hardware wallets
In the first place, that was never a case with crypto exchanges at first. KYC become implemented over time, the same happens with hardware wallets
over time.
This is just a continuation of everything that happened, because if we read between the lines, then the message that Ledger sends is something along the lines of
"you are not ready to be your own bank anyway, your backup is safer in our hands", which is very similar to what said
comrade CZ, when he called practically 99% of his users
"stupid" and asserted that they are not capable of being their own bank.
He said that a lot of people write him and tell him that they can't carry the responsibility of keeping 24 word seed phrase safely and ask them for recovery options. Basically, what he says is 100% true for majority of users. I have even stated earlier that Ledger wouldn't do such a risky move without research and confidence. At the moment a lot of people are angry about their decision but it's a business, Ledger aims to satisfy upcoming millions of users instead of a current tiny userbase.
If you look at the bigger picture and all the regulations, especially in the US and the EU, then it is much clearer in which direction all this is going. Let no one be surprised if in the future any HW will be impossible to use without detailed KYC, and the so-called "recovery" will also be mandatory, which will mean that most of the bad-informed will keep their BTC in a custodial service.
We know where its going, they want to know how you earn, how you spend, they want to control everything, that is the aim.
There is some truth in the fact that the majority have accepted KYC as a standard procedure, but still mostly when it comes to CEX, but this was never the case with hardware wallets
This x1000. I do not believe that the Ledger team do not understand the difference between KYC on a centralized exchange where you already have zero privacy and zero security and are well aware the centralized exchange has complete control of your coins and is monitoring everything you do, versus KYC on a hardware wallet where the vast majority of people are going to want complete security and a reasonable amount of privacy. The vast majority of people do not want their hardware wallet addresses KYCed or their wallets linked to their real identity and that information shared with blockchain analysis companies, governments, and whoever else pays for the data.
I'm sure Ledger know this, but are being deliberately misleading in the defense of their new
vulnerability feature.
He said in a podcast that a lot of people tell them that they can't handle the responsibility of keeping 24 words seed phrase safely and they want a recovery option. To be honest, I believe in what he said. It's you, me and one or two other guys who cares, majority doesn't care. I genuinely believe that they have done research and backed this decision of theirs.