EXCLUSIVE: Nicolas Bacca leaves Ledger

05.09.2023
EXCLUSIVE: Nicolas Bacca leaves Ledger
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Nicolas Bacca, who was the last Ledger co-founder to have an operational role, is leaving the French unicorn to launch a new project.

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An important page in Ledger's history will be turned in the coming weeks. According to our information, one of the company's co-founders, Nicolas Bacca, will be leaving the venture. He is the last co-founder still operationally present. One of the other co-founders, Eric Larchevêque, is still on the board of directors, but has stepped down as CEO in 2019.

Nicolas Bacca, who keeps his shares in Ledger, is one of the company's historic figures. After holding the position of chief technology officer, he became the group's chief innovation officer in 2019.

According to our information, Nicolas Bacca will continue his adventure in the crypto sector, but at the helm of a new project whose aim is to facilitate the onboarding of users in crypto. "This is the subject he's passionate about," stresses a close friend. "His obsession is to help the general public use and hold digital assets. Ledger has enabled him to do some things, but now is surely the time to do more."

In just a few years, Ledger has established itself as one of the world's leading custodians of digital assets. The company is best known for its Nano digital wallets. At the end of 2022, CEO Pascal Gauthier announced in an interview with The Big Whale that he had sold over 6 million Nano wallets.

Some people are questioning the company's strategy, however, as it places increasing emphasis on the artistic and business side, particularly around NFTs. Ledger also suffered controversy in mid-May with the leak of its future 'Recover' service, which some long-standing users described as contrary to the brand's values. This has also left its mark internally, but Nicolas Bacca's departure had been decided beforehand.

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Raphaël Bloch

Raphaël Bloch is CEO and co-founder of The Big Whale, an independent market intelligence platform on digital assets serving financial market participants through editorial coverage, research, a weekly briefing, and in-person events. He co-founded The Big Whale in April 2022. At the platform, he moderates and hosts institutional events bringing together banks, asset managers, custodians, and infrastructure providers on topics including staking, on-chain yield, stablecoins, DeFi lending, and tokenisation. He has moderated panels at events hosted in partnership with Bitwise, Everstake, Gemini, Morpho, Hexarq, Coinhouse, Delubac, Franklin Templeton, and the Ethereum Foundation, held in London and Paris between late 2025 and mid-2026.

Before founding The Big Whale, Bloch worked as a reporter at Les Echos from December 2016 to March 2020, then at L'Express from March 2020 to March 2022. He also previously worked at Reuters. Since September 2022, he has held a concurrent role as Business Analyst at BFM Business. He has been active in crypto journalism since 2016. He holds degrees from emlyon and the CFJ.

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