A concise, practical walkthrough to safely access your Ledger hardware wallet and protect your crypto holdings.
Your Ledger device stores private keys offline. The login process is the gatekeeper — mistakes or insecure practices can expose accounts. This guide focuses on small steps that make a big difference.
Follow these steps exactly to log in and verify your device.
If Ledger Live doesn’t detect your device: try a different cable, update Ledger Live, and ensure the device firmware is current. Never enter your recovery phrase into any app or website.
Protecting access goes beyond a PIN. Implement layered security:
For power users: consider passphrase protection (BIP39 passphrase), use an air-gapped setup, or split your holdings across multiple devices for added redundancy.
Before you log in today, confirm these:
If your recovery phrase was ever entered into a website or app, assume compromise and transfer funds to a new wallet after generating a fresh device and recovery phrase.