Bitcoin Forum

Of late I've been hearing of saddening cases of husbands dying and leaving bitcoins in a wallet that no one else in the family has the private keys/password to. Of course many keep their bitcoin portfolio as a close secret, but has anyone gone the extra mile to let the immediate family know of how much you hold in bitcoin and included it in a will just in case something terrible & unexpected happens to you? I think there are lots of coins disappearing forever after the death of the owners.

This subject is definitely something that a lot of people should take in consideration as bitcoin is now widely used, It's more valuable then ever. I still believe that even If someone fail to do, It's still profitable for the rest of people as this will only mean less supply and result in a higher value and that's not the case for fiat.

I made my wallet which includes my bitcoins a paper wallet and i put it in a case.  And also I put a video tape which is about how to turn the bitcoins in paper wallet into fiat money in this case.

There was a thread about this not too long ago (actually, only a few days back). Personally, I would definitely put them in my will including detailed instructions on how to access them if necessary, as it can be quite complicated for a complete beginner to grasp the concept of public/private keys, depositing, withdrawing, not to mention the slightest error can result in losing everything (sending to the wrong address, for example). With that said, in the future it will be the norm to include Bitcoins in one's will. It is funny how in just 3 short years, the price has risen so high people are even discussing this. Bitcoin used to be worth ZERO. lol!

Bitcoin is the new currency and the majority of users are young people who are too young to think about the will. And nobody can reliably predict the future of crypto currencies. Maybe in a few years we will witness the collapse of the crypto economy.

Man, this would be difficult for people like me that use 3-4 wallet and exchanges. May be there should be built-in capability to will Crypto in most wallet or there should be Crypto companies dedicated to this.

This will very be a good option for people or investors who have accumulated so much bitcoin during the course of the year. But I think for most of us who are still owning just a few bitcoin, this will not be an option. You can just give your wife or kids the paper wallet and show them how to withdraw or convert it to fiat. Simple as that.

Actually this is a pretty good use of a smart contract. You could transfer funds to an account (even convert to fiat?) in case of verified death.

It is easier to do without legal support.

Yes. I've just gone and done this. You never know when that fatal bus flattens you. I seriously doubt anyone else will have a clue what to do but they can look at those strings of numbers and remember me fondly.

Once they find out the fiat value of your holdings, they might start thinking about it some more...
Absolute disaster for them if they hold a lot, but it's good for us.  Decreasing supply --> scarcity --> increasing price.

The good thing is that the decreasing supply means that people tend to own less coins each and they have a higher value, so people are less likely to lose them.

Good use for a multisig address. Isn't it better to just explain to family members what to do now with their own key etc than leaving instructions how to import private key etc... I mean you would be leaving it to someone so I guess you can trust them with private key.

No but I've showed my girlfriend where my back ups are & she knows the password to my wallet. I've told her she'd have to take my laptop & back ups & do an OTC trade to sell them all in one go. She's not clever enough to use exchanges etc.