Taking control of your own crypto is a powerful idea, but it comes with a heavy burden. For every story of financial sovereignty, there’s another about a lost seed phrase, a compromised device or a sophisticated hack that wipes out a lifetime of savings.
This is the challenge that Xavier Hendrickx, co-founder and CEO of Ngrave, set out to solve. As a Bitcoin (BTC) holder since 2013 and one of the early builders on Ethereum, Hendrickx founded Ngrave, a Belgian deep-tech company, to create a complete self-custody ecosystem.
The system is centered on Zero, a hardware wallet with an EAL7 certification — the highest security certification available — and works with the Liquid mobile app and Graphene crypto backup to protect digital wealth.
In this interview, Xavier Hendrickx discusses the lessons he learned from crypto’s early days, the design philosophy behind building an EAL7-certified hardware wallet and his vision for the future of secure self-custody.
Cointelegraph: What was the specific moment or event that made you realize the existing hardware wallet solutions were not secure enough, leading to the creation of Ngrave?
Xavier Hendrickx: I’ve been active in the crypto space since 2013, and like many early adopters, I learned some hard lessons along the way. I lost funds in both the Mt. Gox collapse and the BTC-e hack, which already showed me how fragile the infrastructure around crypto was at the time.
But the real turning point for me came with the Parity multisig wallet hack in 2017. That incident made me realize that even when you thought you were following the best practices, your assets could still be at risk because the underlying security wasn’t truly solved.
I only really understood then that the real promise of blockchain — protecting people’s freedom as we enter the digital age — could only be achieved if security was addressed as a foundational problem.
That realization is what ultimately led to the creation of Ngrave. Our mission became to build a security solution from the ground up, one that would allow people to safely be their own bank without having to rely on opaque or vulnerable third parties.
CT: How would you explain the difference in protection between an EAL7-certified device like Ngrave Zero and a standard hardware wallet to a non-technical user?
XH: Most hardware wallets are like having a strong lock on your front door. They keep most burglars out, and they’re much safer than leaving the door wide open.
Ngrave Zero, with its EAL7 certification, is like putting your valuables inside a military-grade vault that has been tested and certified by the highest international security standards. EAL7 is the strictest level of certification that exists. It means that the device’s secure firmware has been independently and rigorously tested to withstand even the most advanced attacks.
So while a standard hardware wallet gives you a good layer of protection, Zero is designed for people who want to remove all doubt.
CT: The Zero wallet is 100% air-gapped, using only QR codes. Why is isolation from all network connections so crucial for true self-custody?
XH: When you truly self-custody your crypto, the biggest risk is someone stealing your private keys. Any time a device is connected by USB, Bluetooth, WiFi or NFC, there’s a potential pathway for attackers to exploit. Even tiny hidden vulnerabilities can be enough for a skilled hacker.
The Zero avoids this risk completely by being 100% air-gapped. It never touches the internet or any network. The only way it communicates is through QR codes, which are one-way and human-readable. This physical isolation guarantees that your private keys never leave the device or get exposed to external systems, closing off the most common attack vectors.
CT: Security and user-friendliness are often seen as trade-offs. How does Zero’s design balance “military-grade” security with an intuitive experience?
XH: It’s true that in most products, security and ease of use pull in opposite directions. The more secure something is, the harder it usually becomes to use.
On the security side, Zero is built like a fortress: fully air-gapped, EAL7-certified, tamper-resistant and keys are generated offline so they never leave the device. That’s the “military-grade” part.
On the user side, we designed Zero with the user experience central: it has a large color touchscreen, a simple interface and uses QR codes instead of complicated cables or special drivers. This makes it as intuitive as possible while still maintaining total isolation from any network.
CT: What are the fundamental flaws you see in traditional seed phrase backups? What led you to engineer the Graphene, Ngrave’s encrypted and recoverable crypto backup system?
XH: Traditional seed phrase backups, whether on paper or metal, have a fatal flaw: they are a single point of failure. If someone finds them, they can steal everything; if you lose or destroy them, your funds are gone forever. They’re also unencrypted and static, which makes them inherently fragile.
That’s why we created Graphene. It is a two-part stainless steel backup that’s both encrypted and recoverable. One plate on its own is useless, and even if one part is lost, you can still recover your backup. It takes away the anxiety of “lose it once and it’s gone” and replaces it with a durable, secure and forgiving solution.
CT: How has Jean-Jacques Quisquater’s expertise influenced the project?
XH: We’re fortunate to be advised by Jean-Jacques Quisquater, a cryptography pioneer even cited in the original Bitcoin white paper. His expertise has been invaluable in guiding the deepest layers of our security design.
In particular, he advised us on the development of our internal entropy generation algorithm, the process that ensures the private keys created on Zero are truly random and unpredictable. Having his input gave us confidence that our foundation for self-custody is mathematically sound.
CT: For a financial institution considering offering crypto services, what are the advantages of using a dedicated self-custody solution like Ngrave?
XH: By integrating our services, institutions can allow their clients to hold and manage crypto securely without exposing keys to the platform.
This approach helps prevent value outflow: when investors leave a platform, their assets remain safely under their control, reducing operational and reputational risk. At the same time, institutions follow best practice standards for crypto custody, providing confidence to both regulators and clients while maintaining a competitive edge.
CT: What is your vision for the future of self-custody, and how will Ngrave’s roadmap empower more people to achieve true financial sovereignty?
XH: I believe the next wave of crypto adoption will happen through institutions, as they bring scale, trust and access to a broader audience. But for this to unlock the true promise of blockchain, self-custody must be done right.
If security is weak or user experience is poor, we risk a world where crypto assets are concentrated in a few custodians, essentially repeating the same pitfalls of traditional finance.
That’s where Ngrave comes in. Our roadmap is focused on making military-grade self-custody accessible and intuitive for both individuals and institutional clients. Beyond Zero and Graphene, we’re building services like improved swapping, staking, broader coin support and seamless integration with institutional platforms.
Learn more about Ngrave
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