Crypto hardware maker OneKey has cancelled the right of Malaysian retailer CryptoBilis to sell its products. The move follows reports that some Ledger wallets sold by the same shop had funds stolen from them.
Onchain research group YFarmX estimates that as much as $103 million was stolen. Ledger has not confirmed how much was lost.
“We have no reports of OneKey users losing assets in this incident, but we are acting as if the risk is real,” OneKey said in a statement on its website. “CryptoBilis is no longer an authorised OneKey reseller.”
OneKey is based in Hong Kong. It said devices bought from CryptoBilis between 1 March and 12 October can be replaced for free.
The company also said it has stopped signing up new resellers. It will review the resellers it already works with, it said.
Ledger, which is based in Paris, said it is investigating reports that users lost money after buying its hardware wallets from CryptoBilis. The company said it checked one affected user’s device and found an unauthorised hardware implant inside it.
Ledger said only a limited number of devices were affected. It said it is working with the relevant authorities.
“We know this is concerning, especially for those directly affected, and we are reaching out to impacted users,” Ledger said in a post on X. The company said all confirmed cases involve devices sold through CryptoBilis.
CryptoBilis said on 10 October that it had paused the sale and shipping of all hardware wallets. The pause covers its stores and online channels in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
“We are doing this as a precaution, to protect our customers while Ledger’s investigation continues and while we review our own processes with the help of independent specialists,” the retailer said in a post on X.
CryptoBilis co-founder Arravind Prabu posted on LinkedIn that the business was bought by new owners earlier this year. He said management duties were handed over in March. CryptoBilis did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment, Moneyweb reported.
Hardware wallets are physical devices that keep the private keys to crypto funds offline. This is known as cold storage. They are seen as one of the safer ways to hold cryptocurrency.
The CryptoBilis case is the latest in a run of attacks on the crypto industry in the past few months. In one earlier case, more than $100 million in Bitcoin was stolen from Coldcard wallets. Those devices are made by Canadian company Coinkite.
OneKey competes with hardware wallet makers Ledger and Trezor. It is backed by Coinbase Ventures and YZi Labs, the family office of Binance co-founders Changpeng Zhao and Yi He.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.