# Pascal Gauthier

> Pascal Gauthier is a French entrepreneur, investor and the chairman and CEO of Ledger. After commercial and operating roles at Kelkoo and Criteo, he founded the crypto market-data business Challenger Deep, later Kaiko, in 2014. He invested in Ledger in 2015, became president in 2017 and CEO in 2019. His public work now connects hardware security with digital ownership, identity and human authorization of AI agents.

- **Role:** Chairman and CEO at Ledger
- **Organizations:** Ledger, Kaiko, Criteo, Kelkoo, Mosaic Ventures, Index Ventures, ISTR, Komainu
- **Nationality:** French
- **Known for:** Founded the digital-asset market-data company that became Kaiko., Helped Criteo scale internationally as COO., Progressed from early Ledger investor and board member to president and CEO.

## Career timeline

- **2002** — Joins Kelkoo and subsequently becomes commercial director in France.
- **2008–2013** — Serves as chief operating officer at Criteo during its international expansion.
- **2013–2014** — Works as executive in residence at Index Ventures.
- **2014** — Founds Challenger Deep, later renamed Kaiko.
- **2015** — Becomes a Ledger seed investor and non-executive board member.
- **2016–2017** — Works as venture partner at Mosaic Ventures.
- **2016** — ISTR opens in Paris, a restaurant venture with Philippe Morin and Pierre-Michaël Smague.
- **2017** — Ambre Soubiran acquires Kaiko from Gauthier, according to her 2019 interview.
- **2017-09** — Ledger announces his appointment as president.
- **2019-04** — Becomes Ledger CEO, succeeding Éric Larchevêque.
- **2024-05** — Ledger begins shipping the first Stax orders.
- **2026-10** — Announces Ledger Atom, still in development with estimated Q2 2027 delivery.

## Achievements

- Founded the digital-asset market-data company that became Kaiko.
- Helped Criteo scale internationally as COO.
- Progressed from early Ledger investor and board member to president and CEO.
- Led Ledger through the first shipments of Stax in May 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — On October 15, announced Ledger Atom at Ledger Op3n. It remains in development, with estimated delivery in Q2 2027.
- **2026-10** — Ledger introduced Agent Intent in beta, enabling AI-prepared proposals to await human approval on a compatible Ledger signer.
- **2026-07** — Ledger published his VivaTech conversation with CNN journalist Melissa Bell on digital sovereignty.
- **2026-03** — Published Revenge of the Atoms, an essay advocating hardware security for digital ownership, identity and AI-agent authorization.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascalgauthier1/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/_pgauthier

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/pascal-gauthier
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-16