What happens if Ledger, TREZOR, Coldcard, or any other hardware wallet company go out of business?
This can be scary, since most people are buying hardware wallets with the goal to store large amounts of money.
We’ll cover exactly how it works and what would happen.
Key Takeaways
- You can easily access your funds if Ledger, TREZOR, Coldcard or other companies shut down or go out of business.
- You simply import your 24 word backup seed into any other wallet software and can have instant access to your wallet.
- Making sure your backup phrase is securely stored is the best way to limit your risk to a company shutting down.
What Happens if TREZOR or Ledger Go Out of Business?
When you buy a hardware wallet like TREZOR or Ledger, you make a backup of your wallet.
This backup is usually 12 or 24 words.
If TREZOR, Ledger, Coldcard or any other wallet or hardware wallet company go out of business, you can use any other wallet to recover your wallet.
The 12 or 24 words you wrote down at the beginning when you got your wallet can re-create your wallet without the need for the hardware wallet company you bought from.
For example:
You bought a Ledger wallet and wrote down the 24 word backup.
Ledger closed and for some reason their software no longer works.
You can easily download dozens of other wallets and have instant access to your money.
You’ll just import the 24 words and the other wallet software will re-create your wallet again.
What Happens if Any Other Crypto Wallet Goes out of Business?
The same process explained above applies to any other crypto wallet. This assumes the wallet offers a 12 or 24 word backup phrase at the beginning.
If your wallet did not offer that, it’s likely that they control your coins and not you.
What Happens if You Lose Your Hardware Wallet?
If you lose your wallet, you’ll need to recover it using the 12 or 24 words you acquired when you set it up.
Best Ways to Store Your Seed Phrase Backup
The most secure way to store your wallet seed phrase is on a metal or steel wallet.
If you store your seed on paper, it’s much easier for it to get destroyed by fire, water or other causes.
