Is Self-Custody Still Worth Upholding After the Ledger Incident?

Estimated losses of nearly $90 million have prompted many crypto users to reconsider a question: If hardware wallets can also involve risks, is keeping assets in one’s own hands really safer?
My view is that self-custody still has value, but it is not a free security lunch. According to public reports, Ledger is investigating user asset losses related to Southeast Asian distributor CryptoBilis and has asked the channel to suspend sales and shipments. Investigators have raised possibilities such as supply chain risks, but the specific cause has not yet been determined.
The biggest advantage of self-custody is that users can control their own private keys without handing over control of all their assets to a third party. But control and responsibility are two sides of the same coin: losing private keys, exposing seed phrases, or mistakenly signing malicious transactions can all lead to consequences that are difficult to reverse. By contrast, using a centralized platform eliminates some management work, but requires evaluating the platform’s custody mechanisms, transparency, operational risks, and one’s own compliance needs.
Therefore, I do not believe this incident can simply prove that self-custody is unreliable, let alone conclude from it that all hardware wallets have problems. What it truly reveals is that security solutions must account for the entire lifecycle—from purchase and initialization to backup, daily signing, and incident response—and no step can be taken lightly.
For beginners, learning to identify phishing links, protect seed phrases, and verify transactions is more important than blindly pursuing expensive devices. Long-term holders, meanwhile, may consider separating funds for daily transactions from long-term reserves and configuring different custody methods after fully understanding the operational risks.
The crypto industry pursues decentralization, but decentralization does not mean having to shoulder everything alone. Making proper use of tools, professional services, and security knowledge can turn self-sovereignty into a genuine advantage rather than another source of risk.$NVDA #Ledger事件损失近9000万