Ian Rogers, CXO at Ledger, on Self-Custody, The Future of Hardware Wallets, and The Launch of Ledger Stax | Ep. 328

Ian Rogers, the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Ledger, the popular crypto and NFT hardware wallet manufacturer, sat down for an exclusive interview with Cryptonews’ Matt Zahab.

He discussed his move from the world of giants Apple and Yahoo to crypto and Ledger.

Rogers also talked about the incoming Ledger Stax, adding that more secrets will be shared soon.

The CXO gave a wide-ranging interview, which you can watch or read below.

Jumping from Beats and Apple to Crypto

Rogers worked for and with a number of giants across industries. These include LVMH, Beats Music, Apple, and Yahoo!.

He told Cryptonews Podcast that these helped him understand the value and profound change the Internet has brought to the business world.

Yet, he felt his work in music was done.

One of the reasons he joined Ledger in 2021 is the “freedom of choice” the Internet and the wallet maker bring.

This crypto wallet is a major step up from the credit cards we have: one protects banks’ secrets, but the other works only for its users.

“You as a user have ownership, and that’s driving a little bit more at the Internet that I always dreamed of,” the CXO said.

Ever stumbled upon those funky strings of characters in the crypto world? Meet the 'public address' It's like your personal crypto mailbox, where you can receive payments hassle-free.

And if you're scratching your head about public addresses, wallets, and private keys, hop over… pic.twitter.com/hzxIhiSzCc

— Ledger (@Ledger) April 5, 2024

Security vs. Performance

Upon meeting Ledger’s CEO Pascal Gautier years ago, he began understanding the massive difference between having just a smartphone for transactions and owning a special device for one’s funds.

Phones, he said, are designed for performance, not security.

And that has never been more true than today, he argued, as we witness major security incidents all around us.

After meeting the Ledger team, Rogers realized that this company would succeed.

The reason was simple, he said. There was only one bet there: there will be more digital ownership in the future.

Will we have more digital ownership in the future? The answer is yes. Digital ownership is the key to freedom and privacy. If not self custody, why crypto?

Thanks for the great 🔥side chat @moshaikhs #PBW2024 pic.twitter.com/cq42YRWS4r

— Pascal Gauthier @Ledger (@_pgauthier) April 9, 2024

“What I actually love so much about this space is this inevitability. We as human beings will have digital ownership,” Rogers remarked.

And because of that, we’ll need security.

Moreover, it is rare in crypto to see a company stand for one message for more than a decade.

For Ledger that is security and self-custody, Rogers said.

It’s always heartbreaking to hear about someone getting scammed – especially when the person who scammed them was someone they had grown to trust.

Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to Niki, who lost $390k worth of crypto after meeting someone online who spent a lot of… pic.twitter.com/0gjftCQCSr

— Ledger (@Ledger) April 16, 2024

Ledger Stax: Readying for Shipment, More Secrets to be Revealed

The much-anticipated Ledger Stax, which will come with the E-Ink touchscreen, Bluetooth, and roomy user interface, was announced in December 2022.

“We struggled through last year to get to the yield,” Rogers commented. “We’re finally there.”

The team was in Asia at the time of the recording, moving toward mass production.

The company will be sending a message out to people who preordered “very soon” to double-check the information.

“And then we’ll follow up with the shipping schedule. So it’s coming very shortly.”

After that, Ledger will put the device back on sale.

(1/2) Thanks for the excitement for Ledger Stax!

We have received all the pre-orders we can deliver through Summer 2023.

We’re incredibly grateful for your support and are working hard to get current pre-orders ready to ship!https://t.co/ZhZYpxANAV

— Ledger (@Ledger) February 10, 2023

However, “there’s actually some more secrets around that that I don’t want to share just yet. So I would say look out this summer, and we’ll have more coming.”

All in all, users will get an improved interference and experience, a secure screen, more features built in, and more interactorability.

Additionally, Ledger is adding new partners daily, so “you’ve got a full array of services in there.”

Lastly, the company has another “big mission this year”: to eradicate blind signing, both with Ledger and with partners.

There’s plenty more to come.

____

But that’s not all!

In this interview, Rogers also discussed:

• being a huge music fan since an early age, studying computer science, and walking the path to the Apple Music launch;
• Tony Fadell – the former senior vice president of the iPod division at Apple – coming up with the idea for Ledger Stax;
• the notion of Ledger as a status symbol with a culture built around it: quality and security of the product must be priorities because only this will result in long-term, successful business;
• Ledger’s work on increasing ease of use for its users in 2024;
• Ledger’s transactional business and enabling people to buy, sell, and swap directly into self-custody;
• speaking to US Representatives and Congress people in Washington DC about self-custody: why it is challenging and how Rogers overcomes those challenges.

Check out the full interview here.

__________

About Ian Rogers

Ian Rogers is the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Ledger, a major crypto and NFT hardware wallet manufacturer.

Rogers has spent his career exploring and innovating at the intersection of music, artists, and technology.

Prior to joining Ledger, he spent five years as Chief Digital Officer at LVMH, where he was responsible for building group-level digital excellence and accelerating digital transformation for LVMH Maisons.

Rogers is also renowned for his work in the music industry, where he was the CEO of Beats Music and GM of Music at both Apple and Yahoo.

Also, he built some of the earliest music-related websites in the early ’90s, including Winamp.com, and has been working with Beastie Boys since 1993.