The future for crypto remains very bright. That’s according to the CEO of Ledger, Pascal Gauthier who sat down for a tête-à-tête with Valideapp in his home country, France. Gauthier, who enters his eighth year working at Ledger, explained that the recent downward price action in Bitcoin has not brought interest in crypto to a standstill:

“Bitcoin might be down, but people are buying NFTs and you know, they’re participating in communities.”

Gauthier voiced his opinion while sitting in front of the doors to the Biarritz Grand Casino, home to France’s largest Bitcoin conference, Surfin Bitcoin. The conference was a Bitcoin maxi-style affair where royalty and Bitcoin hobbyists rubbed shoulders to nurture Bitcoin adoption in France.

Commenting on the “religious war of Bitcoin maxis versus the rest of the world,” Gauthier explained that it’s a question of product fit. While competition is good as it drives innovation, it’s also a question of use case: “It’s also interesting to see that people just use the product. And when they use the product, they use Bitcoin and sometimes they use other things.”

In response to the crypto contagion, in which Hodlonaut, Zipmex, Vauld, and countless other exchanges experienced difficulty managing—or went as far as freezing–customers’ funds, Gauthier told Valideapp that Ledger’s sales are “Way up.” Gauthier lamented that the increase in sales is bittersweet as people have to learn “The hard way.” During the interview, he gave a stark warning about the importance of holding one’s keys.

On a lighter note, however, Gauthier is optimistic and hopeful for the future of crypto. From the Metaverse to crypto gaming to more participation in Web3 technology, Gauthier admitted that it’s early days for the space but a lot of things in the future make him go “Wow!”