We tested a retail-purchased Nano X for four weeks across bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and two EVM layer twos, covering initial setup, firmware update, recovery from seed, mobile signing over Bluetooth and day-to-day transaction verification.
Setup is the part Ledger has clearly spent the most engineering effort on. Device initialisation, PIN choice and seed generation are guided step by step, and the recovery test at the end of setup is mandatory rather than optional — a small detail that prevents a large category of user loss.
Bluetooth signing is the feature that justifies the price difference over the cheaper Nano S Plus. Pairing held across sessions and we recorded no dropped signatures. Transactions are still confirmed on the device's own screen, so the phone remains an untrusted display.
Asset coverage is the widest in the category. Anyone holding assets across more than three or four ecosystems will spend less time fighting their wallet with a Nano X than with any competitor we have tested.
The security model deserves a precise description rather than a slogan. The secure element is certified and has held up against physical extraction attempts, but its firmware is not open source, so the guarantee is a certification and a vendor promise rather than something a researcher can verify independently. That is an acceptable trade for many holders and a disqualifying one for some.
The 2020 customer database breach also remains materially relevant. Buyers whose details were exposed continue to receive convincing phishing attempts, and the mitigation is user vigilance rather than anything the device does.
Ledger Live has improved as a portfolio and staking interface, though it still promotes bundled paid services more prominently than a security tool should.
At around 149 dollars, the Nano X is the sensible default for a multi-chain holder who values convenience and coverage. Readers who want an auditable stack should compare against open-source devices before buying.
Disclosure: the unit tested was purchased at retail by this newsroom. Ledger was not given advance sight of this review.
