Ledger’s Nano S Death Spiral: Is the 'King of Hardware Wallets' Losing Its Crown?

The Cold Truth Behind Ledger’s Exit Strategy

I’ve spent years analyzing chain data, building Dune dashboards for institutions, and watching how user behavior shifts when tech evolves. So when Ledger announced it would stop supporting its flagship Nano S in 2025, my first reaction wasn’t shock—it was recognition.

This isn’t a surprise. It’s a calculation.

The device launched in 2016 with 320KB of memory—a lot for its time. But over eight years, that space became a digital prison. Bitcoin Core alone now eats up nearly half the memory. Add Ethereum apps, token standards like ERC-721 and ERC-1155—and there’s no room for future upgrades.

That’s not laziness. That’s physics.

Why Users Are Fuming (And Not Just Because of Price)

But here’s where things get messy: Ledger kept selling the Nano S until at least 2022—three years after announcing end-of-life plans in some channels. To users who bought it recently? It feels like being told your car needs a new engine… then sold to you yesterday.

One KOL put it perfectly: “You’re not upgrading us—you’re canceling our warranty.”

And yes—the cost matters. A new Nano X runs \(99; Stax hits \)149. For someone holding $5K in ETH or BTC on an old device? That feels less like progress and more like extortion wrapped in technical jargon.

Security vs. Profit: The Real Battle Line

Let me be clear: I’m not anti-upgrade. If a wallet can’t support multi-signature recovery or modern encryption schemes (like those needed for EIP-4337), it should be phased out.

But here’s the irony—Ledger could have kept providing basic security patches indefinitely, much like Apple does with iOS devices decades after launch.

Instead, they chose incompatibility as a business model.

Zach Herbert from FOUNDATION nailed it: “Hardware wallets should outlive smartphones.” And yet Ledger is treating its most trusted product like disposable hardware—in violation of the core ethos of self-custody.

Competitors See Blood in the Water

The silence before the storm is deafening.

FOUNDATION has already teased Passport Prime—with seamless migration tools designed specifically for displaced Ledger users. They know exactly which pain point to exploit: a wallet that once defined trust no longer trusts its own users back.

crypto communities aren’t forgiving when brands abandon their legacy products without compensation or transition paths.