Ledger in Europe: one user's MediaMarkt report is real, but a Germany sales halt is not confirmed

The Ledger hardware-wallet story has moved from Southeast Asia to Europe in crypto video coverage, and some of that coverage has gone further than the facts. Several videos this week say MediaMarkt, Germany's largest electronics retailer, has pulled Ledger wallets from sale after spyware was found in a unit. We looked for confirmation. We found a user report, and not the halt.

What is confirmed

According to Bitcoin.com News on October 11, an X user going by Johannes posted photos of what he said was a hardware implant inside a Ledger wallet he bought at MediaMarkt about two weeks earlier. The report said former Mt. Gox chief Mark Karpeles commented that the antenna was labelled "Eurasian version." Johannes said the device was compromised but that his funds had not been moved.

Ledger has said all of its confirmed cases are tied to the reseller CryptoBilis, which sold devices in Southeast Asia, as The Defiant noted. The Bitcoin.com report said Ledger Support had not yet addressed the European reports, and that it did not include any response from MediaMarkt.

What we could not confirm

• That MediaMarkt withdrew Ledger stock in Germany. We found no statement from the retailer or Ledger saying so.
• That the European device is connected to the drains Ledger is investigating. It rests on one person's photographs.
• The size of the losses. Our earlier story put the $86 million figure as an analyst estimate; Bitcoin.com News has since carried a $93.4 million figure in its headline. Neither is an audited loss number.

The Bitcoin Family angle

Didi Taihuttu, the founder of The Bitcoin Family channel, said in his latest video that he bought three Ledger devices at Singapore airport last Friday, October 9, as gifts for his daughters, and showed a receipt on camera. He said he plans to open all three and check them for tampering, and to publish the result. We cannot verify the purchase or the store, and report it as what he said. The plan is a sensible one: the physical inspection and the device's own authenticity check are the steps Ledger's guidance points to.

His wider message in the video was that self-custody needs care, which holds up regardless of who is right about MediaMarkt: buy from the manufacturer, not from a reseller, and treat a package that looks opened as compromised.

What to do if you own one

Check where it was bought. Devices bought directly from Ledger have not been named in any confirmed case. If yours came from a reseller, look for signs of opening, run Ledger's authenticity check, and do not enter your recovery phrase into any device you did not initialize yourself.

Sources: Bitcoin.com News, October 11, 2026; The Defiant; The Block, October 9, 2026. Information, not investment advice.