Crypto Wallet Maker Ledger Plans US IPO

Ledger, a French company that makes hardware designed to securely store cryptocurrency, reportedly plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.

The company is working with bankers and could launch an IPO as soon as this year, the Financial Times (FT) reported Thursday (Jan. 22), citing unnamed sources.

Ledger was valued at $1.5 billion in 2023 and could be valued at over $4 billion in an IPO, according to the report.

The company’s plans could change, per the report.

Ledger did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier told the FT in November that he was considering a U.S. listing, the report said.

“Money is in New York today for crypto, it’s nowhere else in the world, it’s certainly not in Europe,” he said, per the report.

Ledger’s hardware wallets enable crypto owners to store their private keys offline, where they are not susceptible to online attacks, according to the company’s website. Because the wallets are non-custodial, they also enable owners to fully control their crypto.

When Ledger announced its Series C extension funding round in March 2023, Gauthier said the company would use the funding to bring its devices to more of the hundreds of millions of users of digital assets and blockchain-enabled technology.

Ledger partnered with PayPal in August 2023 to enable users to buy crypto directly through the Ledger Live (now Ledger Wallet) companion app using their PayPal accounts and have the purchased crypto automatically sent to their Ledger hardware wallet.

Gauthier told the FT in November that a record number of cryptocurrency hacks had spiked demand for security devices, helping drive Ledger’s revenues to triple-digit millions at that point in the year. He said the company’s growth was being driven by “the realization that hackers are getting more aggressive and so you need to upgrade your security.”

Blockchain data platform Chainalysis said in December that crypto thefts were creeping up, with the crypto industry seeing more than $3.4 billion in theft from January through the early part of September. One of the key developments in a shift in crypto theft patterns was “a surge in personal wallet compromises.”