For years, crypto’s central security maxim was simple: not your keys, not your coins. Digital bearer assets could be held without a bank, with an unforgiving condition. Lose the private key and no help desk or court order may be able to restore the funds.
That bargain is becoming more complicated. AI can search software continuously, combine exploits and operate at machine speed. Banks are preparing wallets for stablecoin payments and tokenized securities, while autonomous agents initiate transactions. Digital asset custody is becoming a control layer for a broader financial system.
Kasper Luyckx has watched this shift from several points in the market. Before joining Ledger as Head EMEA and Financial Institutions, he worked at UBS and led wallet and staking infrastructure at regulated custodian Crypto Finance.
Digital Asset Custody After the Cold-Wallet Illusion
A hardware wallet isolates a private key from the internet, but cannot compensate for every defect. The recent Coldcard incident discussed in the podcast reportedly involved inadequate randomness in seed generation. Attackers who understood the formula could narrow the possible seed phrases and drain wallets.
The disturbing element was not careless user behaviour. Owners could protect their PINs and keep devices offline, yet remain exposed because the secret had been generated poorly. The open-source weakness had apparently existed for years, eluding audits and reportedly one AI-assisted review.
The case punctures two assumptions: open code is not necessarily well-examined code, and AI-assisted security cannot find every flaw. Ledger combines a secure chip, external audits and an internal attack laboratory called the Donjon. Its researchers test Ledger and competing products, disclosing weaknesses before publication.
Attackers Get Cheaper, Faster and More Patient
AI changes the economics of the contest. Agents can test systems in parallel and combine vulnerabilities a human analyst may never connect. The cost of finding an exploit falls, while the reward for stealing bearer assets remains enormous.
Luyckx expects an uncomfortable transition. Models may expose weaknesses in human-written code faster than companies can repair them. Defenders can use AI for penetration testing and code review, but criminals often have the sharper immediate incentive. Security may deteriorate before a new equilibrium emerges.
This makes digital asset custody an economic question as much as a technical one. Providers need resources to test constantly and respond quickly. Private holders must decide whether autonomy outweighs the support and possible insurance of a regulated intermediary. “Be your own bank” sounds less liberating when hidden defects can erase life savings.
A hybrid may be the practical answer. Experimental funds can remain under direct control. Long-term savings may justify professional custody, divided authority and formal recovery. The model must fit the value, frequency and purpose of a transaction.
One Wallet Layer for Payments, Crypto and Securities
Banks once built custody systems for clients who bought Bitcoin occasionally and held it for years. Stablecoin payments reverse those assumptions. A payment wallet must sign large volumes quickly, preserve privacy and supply enough information to explain a transfer.
Tokenized securities add complexity. A digital bond carries coupon payments, maturity dates and reference data. Wallet infrastructure must interpret these rights across networks without weakening its approval framework.
Institutions need rules specifying who may initiate and approve transfers, when compliance intervenes and how audit trails are produced. Multi-signature contracts offer on-chain controls, though their usefulness varies by network. MPC and hardware security modules provide other ways to manage keys and policies across chains.
Never Give the Agent the Keys
The next challenge arrives when software spends money on a person’s behalf. Ledger’s AgentStack follows a stark principle: an AI agent may prepare a transaction, but should never possess the keys to authorize it.
An agent could assemble a payment, book a flight or present proposed actions. The user reviews the result on a separate device and approves it physically. Policy-based permissions may automate low-risk transactions while reserving unusual or high-value actions for explicit approval.
The design acknowledges a fundamental mismatch. AI is probabilistic; financial settlement must be deterministic. Humans may delegate the work between a goal and a proposed result, yet still need a trustworthy way to confirm identity, context and approval.
The old debate asked whether people or institutions should hold the keys. The emerging one asks how authority should be divided among people, regulated firms, hardware and machines. Digital asset custody will increasingly be judged by how intelligently—and how visibly—that authority is constrained.
[Guest:] Kasper Luyckx, Head of EMEA, Ledger, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasperluyckx/))
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Ledger 2026 AI Security Roadmap / Agent Stack
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