Pascal Gauthier is the Chairman and CEO of Ledger, a tech company that develops hardware devices that allow users to store and manage their cryptocurrencies safely and privately. Ever since he became Ledger’s CEO, Gauthier has expanded the company’s product line and outreach, thus onboarding multiple users globally. 

The profile explores Gauthier’s background, his commitment to improving digital ownership, and some of the controversies surrounding Ledger. 

Early life and education 

Pascal Gauthier was born on 26 June 1976 and is a French national. It’s unclear where Gauthier went to his university, what subjects he took, or what year he graduated. However, by the looks of his early career, it appears that Gauthier acquired skills to work in sales and marketing and is deeply interested in technology. 

Pre-Crypto Career

As per Gautheir’s LinkedIn profile, his first job was at Dooyoo AG, a small startup company where he led a sales team of 4 and later became its’ commercial director. In 2002, he joined the sales team of Kelkoo, which was a renowned European price comparison service. When Yahoo acquired Kelkoo, Gauthier was made the company’s commercial director in 2004. 

As a commercial director, his responsibilities increased, and he oversaw a sales team of 12 individuals, mainly in the cars, travel, and shopping sectors. In 2006, Gauthier left Yahoo, and after taking a career break for almost two years, in 2008, he joined Criteo, which is a French online advertisement agency that uses data & machine learning to increase client ROI. 

At Criteo, Gauthier joined as the agency’s sales and marketing Vice President, but in 2009, he became the Chief Operating Officer. As the COO, he learned how tech can be adopted to improve a company’s progress. Therefore, due to his tech-friendly policies, by the end of his career in 2013, Criteo had more than 2,700 employees stretched in different parts of the world. 

Pivoting into the blockchain space 

In 2014, Gauthier founded Kaiko after he saw the potential there within the blockchain space. Kaiko was originally named Challenger Deep, a name inspired by a submarine expedition that went down to the deepest point on earth known as Mariana Trenches and brought back the most useful data to the surface.  

The name served as a symbol since Kaiko provided important data to businesses and investors, helping them to succeed. During this time, Gauthier served as a board member of OpenX, which is a global leader in programmatic advertising. He also served as an Advisor to Teemo, which reinvented mobile-led offline marketing solutions. 

In addition, Gauthier worked as the Executive in Residence of Index Ventures and the board member of Teads, an out-stream video advertising agency. That helps brands to create their brand new out-stream video inventory. All of this gave Gauthier an in-depth understanding of how technology can be used in the advertising sector. 

Joining and becoming CEO of Ledger

In 2015, Gauthier was approached by Ledger to become its board member, and after hearing what the startup was about, he immediately joined. This happened because he found the idea not only intriguing but also revolutionary and something that’s a need of the hour due to rising security challenges within the crypto space. 

A year later, Gauthier became Ledger’s COO and, in 2017, its’ President. In 2020, he became Ledger’s Chairman and CEO. 

Leadership and Strategy as Ledger CEO

Gauthier believes that all security-related solutions that Ledger develops need to be user-friendly as that is the only way for the entire crypto-ecosystem to grow and users to adopt Ledger. Due to this, he has ensured that all Ledger hardware wallets are simple, easy to use, and do what they are supposed to do, which is to keep a user’s crypto or NFTs secure. 

Due to his vision, Ledger’s primary offerings include Ledger Live and Ledger Stax. Ledger Live is an application that enables users to manage their NFTs. Whereas the Ledger Stax is the main hardware wallet. Tony Fadell, the co-inventor of iPod and iPhone, designed both Ledger’s primary offerings. 

In addition, as the CEO of Ledger, Gauthier established a joint venture named “Komainu” in 2018. This joint venture came as a part of his larger vision for Ledger, which is to grow its use cases apart from cryptocurrencies. Under Komainu, Ledger formed a partnership with Nomura Holding, a renowned Japanese bank, and Coinshares, a European alternative asset manager. 

With the help of this joint venture, both financial institutes can explore how blockchain technology can keep their traditional assets like bonds and stocks secure. 

The future of securing Crypto assets 

With the growth in crypto adaptation, there’s also a growth in hackers who steal user’s funds. A report from Chainalysis reveals that in just the initial half of 2023, crypto assets valued at $2.5 billion were stolen. Despite reflecting a 65% reduction from the previous year, the risk still persists. Hence, it is vital for users to give top priority to securing their funds. Therefore, to secure their funds, the demand for hardware wallets is expected to see a steady rise. As per a report published by Straits Research, by 2030, the global hardware wallet market size will be valued at $1.4 billion.

Perspectives on Crypto Security 

While speaking at a conference, Pascal Gauthier, the Ledger’s CEO said that the world is entering into a new phase of the internet. Therefore, it only makes sense to have a new generation of hardware. A kind that compliments the protocols of a decentralized internet of value. 

This is a reason why Gauthier ensures that Ledger keeps on improving its’ hardware devices with enhanced security features than the previous ones. Additionally, he works to ensure the software experience of Ledger Live is constantly improved and supports new blockchain features and services. 

On the other hand, Gauthier and his team worked with MiCA regulation to ensure their users could store Monero, a renowned privacy coin. He also vowed to continue working with regulators as self-custody is a fundamental human right regardless of how strict regulations become. 

Response to recent ledger controversies

Pascal Gauthier came under serious criticism when he said private seed phrases of Ledger users could be shared with governments, which is a part of Ledger’s latest recovery upgrade. Right after the statement, many users questioned if Ledger is the right place for self-custody of their crypto assets or not.  

Later, Gauthier confirmed that the feature is rather optional and the user has the utmost power, and the feature acts as a privacy-preserving tool. Due to the criticism, Gauthier suspended the launch of the new upgrade and announced it would be rolled out by the end of 2023. 

Contact and Social Media 

Pascal Gauthier is currently located in Paris, France. He is active on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).