What Happens if Ledger Nano Breaks? | Online Cloud Security

What Happens if My Ledger Nano Breaks?

Dave Miller – Tech Enthusiast & Security Expert – January 1st, 2022

Taking the world of cryptocurrencies to the next levels, the crypto hardware wallets (Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X) are the latest inventions from French manufacturer “Ledger” as of 2022.

However, a non-stop debate is going around these crypto hardware devices that have left a number of question marks on the faces of various buyers. What if I lose or break my Ledger Nano? What happens if my ledger nano breaks?

Well, contributing to the hot topic these days, I have come up with a SOLUTION. This article provides you with detailed information on how to recover your crypto assets if your Ledger Nano S or Ledger Nano X gets stolen, damaged, or lost.

What Should You Do if Your Ledger Nano Gets Lost or Broken?

Don’t need to worry, even if your crypto hardware device gets stolen, damaged, or lost. After all, your each and every crypto asset is actually stored on the collective Blockchain network and not on the device. The device is only used to access that Blockchain network. This means, all of your crypto assets are safe, sound, and secure. As long as, you have a gateway to crypto asset recovery through the access from 12, 18 or 24 word recovery seed.

Coming to the point in a more precise way:

If your crypto hardware wallet gets damaged either due to a drop from a certain height or by accidentally getting submerged in the water – you have to check whether it’s working or not. If working, then there isn’t any risk to your recovery seed being compromised. But if damaged, then all you have to do is claim the warranty from the Ledger and you’ll receive a free replacement for yourself.

However, if your crypto hardware wallet is either lost or stolen, then you have to do two things immediately.

First, purchase new hardware and import your recovery seed into it. This provides you access back to your assets on the new hardware.
Second, send your assets to the new addresses. This is just like a reset, where assets are moved to a new wallet address and have nothing to do with the previous one. You must be thinking why need it when you have already got access back. But the thing is since you have lost your hardware, so it might land at the hands of someone who understand hacking and engineering. Of course, the recovery seed is hard to be cracked but a best practice is always to be on the safer side.

Solution:- The best way is always to carry a backup hardware wallet with you. So, in case even if your hardware gets lost or stolen, you can still have access to your crypto assets on the backup hardware through word recovery seed. Meanwhile, you can immediately move the assets to another address for safety purposes.

What if your crypto hardware is lost or stolen, and you don't have backup hardware or can't purchase a new one right away?

In this case, you would have to import your recovery seed into a compatible software wallet, and ultimately send all of your assets into a wallet that possesses a different recovery seed. Important thing is, you would have to make sure that the particular software wallet must be compatible with the assets that you’re sending. The software wallets like Jaxx, Exodus, Coinbase, Binance, Trust Wallet, Metamask, etc. are considered to be good wallets that support a number of crypto (coins and tokens).

Steps to Recover Your Crypto Assets on a Stolen/Damaged/Lost Ledger Nano S and X

If you’re more of a reader, the recovery steps are as followed:

Step 1) Reset your ledger live by opening the application and selecting the settings icon. You have to scroll down and click the “Reset” button.

Step 2) Now you have to set up your new Ledger S or X through a new word seed. Plug it in the new Nano S or X, and ultimately open up in the Ledger Live where you have to click on the “Initialise as new Device” button.

Step 3) Just make sure to have a backup for word seed at offline mode. A better way to do this is by writing it down on paper and placing it somewhere safe, where it would not be lost and is easy to find.

Step 4) Now you would have to copy your each and every public address. For doing this, you would have to click on the receive button for each of your assets. There you have to copy the public key, and use this address to send all of your assets to the new wallet. You can either use TRC20, ERC20, KCC, Algorand, EOS, or other tokens.

Step 5) Reset your Ledger Nano S or X. You can do this by going into the settings part of the device where you have to select the “Reset All” button. No problem, if you can’t remember your passcode, because you can easily reset it even after failed attempts of 3 times.

Step 6) Now you have to reset your Ledger Live

Step 7) Using your word seed from the lost device, now recover your Ledger Nano S or X. For this, you have to go into Ledger Live and press the “Restore device from recovery phrase” button.

Step 8) Now just by following the steps as described, you can import your recovery seed from the device that is lost. With this, you get access back to your assets and other transactional data.

Step 9) Reset the Ledger Live and Ledger Nano S or X

Step 10) Using the new seed, recover the Ledger Nano S or X. You have to press the “Restore device from recovery phrase” button, and import the new word seed. This means, with a secure word seed, finally you have done the recovery work and your every crypto asset is now on a new Ledger Nano S or X.

Conclusion

I’m pretty much hopeful that this guide will definitely help you to recover your precious crypto assets, if due to any reason your crypto hardware wallet is lost, stolen, or damaged. I’ve tried my best to elaborate a solution to every scenario. The best pieces of advice that I could give is: first, always try to have a backup hardware option; second, make sure to save your recovery seeds and passphrase in any offline medium that you think is 100% safe and would never be lost.

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Dave Miller

IT Consultant at Online Cloud Security

Dave Miller is an IT Consultant for Online Cloud Security and has over 7 years of experience in the Information Technology space. He also specializes in repairing laptops & computers. In his spare time, he loves to talk about new technologies and hosts monthly IT and Cyber Security meetings in the Houston area.

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