Fake Ledger Live App on Mac App Store Steals $9.5M Crypto
A fake “Ledger Live” app appeared on the Apple Mac App Store and stole crypto from 50+ users between April 7 and April 13, per on-chain investigator ZachXBT. The Fake Ledger Live app investigation claims total losses exceed $9.5 million across multiple networks, including BTC, SOL, XRP, and EVM assets.
ZachXBT says stolen funds were laundered through 150+ KuCoin-linked deposit addresses and a centralized mixing service identified as “AudiA6.” Reported incidents include a wallet drained of about 3.27M USDT, plus multiple victims losing roughly $1.95M+ each in BTC and ETH-related holdings (including stETH and ETH). Musician G. Love (Garrett Dutton) also reported losing 5.92 BTC after downloading the malicious Ledger-impersonating app while switching devices.
The fake app was removed on April 13, but ZachXBT says it stayed online for nearly two more days. KuCoin support reportedly froze a suspicious account after being notified, but at publication the findings were not independently confirmed by Apple or KuCoin. For traders, this is primarily a security and scam risk signal rather than a protocol or network catalyst, which may slightly dampen sentiment around seed-phrase and branded wallet app workflows.
Neutral
This is a custody/software impersonation scam, not a change to any protocol’s fundamentals or network usage. The headline impact is on victim security and scam workflows, with limited direct link to token supply, demand, or on-chain fundamentals for BTC, SOL, XRP, or ETH.
In the short term, traders may see a mild sentiment drag around branded wallet apps and seed-phrase handling, which can slightly raise perceived risk for assets mentioned in the theft reports. However, the report does not indicate ongoing network-level outages, parameter changes, or systemic liquidity shocks. Over the medium term, market effects are likely to be contained to security-related awareness rather than sustained price pressure.
Overall, the most likely market response is limited to sentiment/operational risk pricing rather than a clear bullish or bearish directional catalyst for the affected cryptocurrencies.