Bitcoin Forum

I was thinking the other day, of the eventuality of inheritance and cryptos.

We are all busy trading and hoarding as many coins as we can in the hope to be self sufficient later on down the road, but we should remember to have a plan to share the details, or all could be in vein.

Should there not be a mechanism allowing the inheritance of coins which have not be transferred during life to ones loved one? If someone is to pass and not provide the access to their wallets these coins are forever lost.

Food for thought.

That's no big deal because a crypto user can always do leave behind private keys for crypto wallets on a PC or a ledger nano s for the one who will inherit to continue the trader's legacy in crypto. He/she needs only to tell the one who will inherit his/her crypto about it while the crypto user is alive. For now this is the most viable method I can think of but I do hope that in the future, there will be a legal process for it so that inheritance will be easier.

You are focusing on the downside. If coins are irrevocably lost that actually increases the
value of all the coins that are still in circulation. You could even view dying with your coins
as a contribution to the cause of your fellow Bitcoin holders.

There are estimations that more than 4-5 million Bitcoin are effectively lost or
unaccessible, which would imply that the actual available supply of Bitcoin is
effectively only 16M BTC instead of 21M BTC if all coins will be mined in the future.

Besides, I think that it is inevitable that methods will emerge that allow you
to safely pass on your cryptocurrency holdings to your children or your loved ones.

Cryptocurrency is just  like any other assets like house or landed property and willing it to a beloved one is definitely not a big deal. Just make sure to write where to find your private key or password to your wallet to your next of kin. Another important is to educate him/her about cryptocurrency, to know their worth.And make sure its someone whom you trust not to terminate you just because of your coins. 

Its up to you if you will share your private keys or not. In my opinion, I will print all of my paper wallet and I will put it on a vault with security lock that my family can pass. We must share it to our family even we are still young because at any moment we will die, we have the assurance that our family will be benifited by our sacrifices. For me, I will put my trust in my family when it comes in keys and passwords of my wallet, there is nothing wrong if they can access too because I am here for the sake of my family.

Its a matter of CHOICE not by CHANCE.If someone wants to give details about him/her doing crypto then its their decision.If you choose to do it then save all data needed to know,so that the one inheriting it is going to be more responsible enough to handle such thing.Then if you do not want to partake something to your family then bring to grave anything that you've earned from crypto.Then die a selfish person.

Well, if you trust your spouse/immediate family - you could just share all the passphrases, ask them to keep copies of recovery files, show them how BTC works etc.
You could also prepare encrypted flash drive with all the sensitive data and ask your close relative to store the password securely. For extra security, you could keep such drive in a bank safe deposit box (small ones cost around £100 in the UK).

And why would you consider such coins to be "lost forever"?? In most cases those would be recoverable, especially when your close ones knew you held cryptos, so they think twice before throwing away any paper wallets, flash drives or devices.

Yeah agreed, if you want to pass it on make sure you inform others about your coins and wallets.

The point is that most people will do this when they feel there time is approaching the end, like with any other assets. Statistically most will write their will in their last 10 years of their life.

But what happens if someone passes before having the chance of passing on the information. Should the relatives not have a claim to ownership somehow?

Giving our bitcoins to our lovedones as inheritance is a good thing. All we have to do is to give them our password, email address and private keys.  We should atleast prepare them for those things.  Not all people know bitcoins and cryptocurrencies.

They do have a claim. They do have a right to your crypto-wallet content and they do have (or should've) the right to access your verified exchange account upon proving they have legal right to do so, just like they get the right to access your bank account.

The tricky part is when they don't know what is bitcoin wallet, or that piece of paper with strange code on it you told them not to touch, or when you secured your wallet with password known only to yourself.

I don´t think this is a particularly good idea. In most Western countries nearly
every 2nd marriage ends in a divorce and in most cases the partners are
not really leaving each other on good terms.

If you own a life-changing amount of Bitcoins you should consider the possibility
that your partner absconds with your fortune. After all it is quite easy to move Bitcoins
if you have the private keys and the wallet passphrase.

Of course my view is somewhat pessimistic, but given the divorce rates
and the potentially huge amount of wealth involved your proposal is quite dangerous.
On top of losing all your stored Bitcoins you would also have to deal
with the psychological consequenes of such an enormous betrayal
by a person you trusted.

Most could opt for secret methods of crypto inheritance. With the death tax (see: estate tax) maxing out around 40% in the united states, I believe most would prefer to avoid a publicly known mechanism of inheritance, not wanting to lose half to taxes.

A mass adoption method of inheriting crypto based on software or smartphone apps could have a potential market. An anonymizing service like TOR for crypto inheritance could carry consumer demand.

Now that you mention it, this is an interesting topic. I wonder what the de facto consensus is with best standards for ensuring safe and reliable passing of crypto to next of kin.

If you have big holdings anywhere online, a gambling site, a crypto account, a bank account people don't know about, at the very least you need to leave the information for your loved ones to find and recover them if something happens to you.

I think that when you have cryptocurrency, your family member should be aware of this, at least a particular family member if not all cause it will help willing it out to the right person at a right time. I think prior before writing an inheritance will, you should nurture whoever  you intend giving your bitcoin to and monitor their attitude towards it to prevent regards.

Agree, that possibility crossed my mind when I was writing my comment, that's why I added "immediate family". It doesn't have to be your spouse, it could be anyone who you find trusted i.e. sibling, parent, children (if old enough), or just good friend of yours.

Knows the people you will give your keys like your wife and family. Since you gave it to them, do not think that they will not try to access it specially to your wife. You decided it to give so you must not care whatever will happens to the amount of your wallet.
It is better for a crypto enthusiast like us to share our wallets to out love ones. So that, if there is something that happens to us they know that they have money to withdraw and also, they can access with your wallet in hardtimes without your permission.

Naturally it can be done, why not? Although I never thought about it, the idea is very good. At least the heirs will love it.

I don't think there should be a mechanism for this, you are responsible yourself of making sure that your loved ones and family get access to your cryptocurrency.
I would not trust a service that keeps all access to my holdings in a centralized place, I'd rather take care of that myself.

My girlfriend for example has access to everything I own, also my crypto.

It should be personally handled by the holder. Printing paper wallets, making back-ups of software wallets, keeping the passphrase secure, etc. If you don't want to give it to them while you are alive, you can probably arrange for them to receive the items when you die. I don't know how lawyers will handle this but you can split thee apart, for example hard wallet is stored by one person, etc. The only one that will probably not get updated regularly in your executor's "vault" are those that you use everyday, for example exchange accounts so you'd have to find a way for your family to take hold of that still.

The real problems lie in the inexperience that the most of the relatives have concerning the cryptocurrencies. If the investor passes by and leaves the private keys written somewhere he should thoroughly explain what is it for and how can the user make some use of it. If the random numbers are left to the relative that had no interest in the cryptocurrencies he could as well throw it away because of own ignorance and a little knowledge that should be acquired before acquiring the crypto legacy.

If there'd be a method to recover lost private keys that could mainly be the negligence of the owner, then I think that would be abused hard by hackers and the likes. It is the duty of the owner of the coins to know how to store his/her wealth and how to give it up when the time comes that he/she wouldn't need/use it anymore. It has the same concept as money after all, so it's the owner's responsibility since it's his/hers.



That could be solved by using multi-signature addresses. You can't recover funds if you only have 1 of the 3 keys. The 3 keys should be given to the person's trusted friends/relatives and should only be opened when the owner of the wallet/coins passed away. It could be arranged through a lawyer and could be considered as a last will and testament depending on how you'd work it out legally.

Another day,I was reading an article about lost BTC till now and was thinking about the same.
So I wrote all my username passwords, private keys etc in a dairy and kept securely in my cupboard. Also told my mom about it and also explained that it contains all the necessary information that needed to access my digital funds.
I suggest everyone to do same so that your hard work should not go in vein after your death.

There should be and if I am not mistaken somebody just ran their ICO based off that concept. Not sure how popular the service would be as it is a limited use case but nonetheless they will garner demand if they are the only people offering that service!

At the moment, there are no such procedure to recover lost security codes. Where someone didn't disclose to the benefactors,  a code to unlock his / her wallet, such coins are gone incase the person dies.

I do not think we should rely on the laws to do that, bitcoin is a way to try to win independence from centralized institutions, in my opinion we need this to be solved in some way, for example a new feature could it be that you could set a timer to your coins, and if those coins have not moved in a certain amount of time then those will be moved to another address, this could be a way to inherit coins without revealing your own private key in the future.

I have a feeling that a good large percentage of all cryptos will be lost after a person's death. Too many people just don't prepare for such things. Especially young people who are attracted because of the hype. The last thing they are thinking is that they're going to die, and the whole concept of the stuff they will leave behind.

We are all mostly doing this for the sake of our future to our family and accumulating coins as much as we can would really be there and we should really think of on how we gonna pass those tokens incase we die.In my own way i do keep all of my information of all my wallet into a single usb then i do tell my closest friend that incase i die i ask him to guide my family on getting those amounts inside it. Maybe it not easy to trust someone since those would really involve big amounts but bestfriends would never do that. 8)

Ain't a big problem at all, every sensible person always keep the safe gate for their funds for bad time.
Inheriting cryptos will be worst, i don't want cryptos to be treated like fiat in damn banking system.
Cryptos are popular due to their security and anonymity, the scams percentage will remarkably increased if this happens.

I personally handle this myself, I have told my 9th grade kid to learn crypto because I gave him some coins already in his laptop wallet. I will probably give him the access to my email incase I feel like I'm dying already. If even I can't then the tokens I got are all gone too, most of the tokens I got are on MEW. I cna't give  the info to a lawyer or he could fuck me.

Anyone could really fuck us up when they know they do have the access to those funds specially when they saw it is already a big amount then temptation to theft would be there so its not appropriate to trust someone rather than on your family itself. Even I would really have the plan to teach one of the members of my family regarding on my involvement to cryptocurrencies which I do give him the idea on how to access those once I died. We wont know on when we will be gone this is why its important to teach him as soon as possible and don't wait for the situation where you do only tell when you are dying. This is a good idea but we wont know on how we gonna die. Either on slow or instant process.

Its not any food for thought as this particular topic has been treated over an over again. There have several.topics about what will happen to one's bitcoin in case of death. I have said it even if its fiat the moment people close to you don't know where you have some stashed funds, or some accounts you opened, or investment you have made, they don't get it at least they have less things to fight themselves over.

The same goes for bitcoin, the design has been made to take care of those that would be lost by natural and unnatural events and if you feel you don't want it to be so, you start making preparation. It maybe a letter which can be accessed only when the writer is  detailing the steps and procedures to go about it, or a video made for same explanation or else there is nothing that can be done, its lost forever.

Suppose if we can recover the private keys of those lost points awesome how to transfer those coins into a new address after a certain time, then the first thing we will face getting hacked as you can see Bitcoin has the highest encryption and there is no way hackers can hack Bitcoin wallet directly. They only have indirect methods by fooling you so that you send the money by yourself. A backup system can become dangerous for our self and as we know those coins which are inaccessible by the community I somehow becoming useful in order to raise the market price.

In my honest opinion, I don't want anyone to inherit my cryptos. When I die, my wealth is gone, that's it! That makes life a bit fairer for the next generation. Imagine Satoshi Nakamoto giving his millions of Bitcoin to his children. Those children did not work for them, so why reward them something they don't deserve? What if people don't donate or give out their wealth to others when they die? Then everyone can start on more or less the same ground. And there'll be less wealth-related injustice.

It's never a problem because we have accounts. We are storing our tokens or BTC to the said wallet. Personally, I won't consider giving away my wealth to someone. I worked hard for it and I have all the rights if I should give it or not. I am willing to teach someone to manage BTC but not just give them away.

Inheriting it to someone i love is one of the thing in my mind because theY are the reason why i am doing this. Maybe they are not aware in the process but still they can be teach and continue the legacy. If my cryptos will stay untouch when i die i will be worried and might not rest in peace and hunt the crypto world (just kidding). That is why i am teaching my husband how to do it. Its like a bank account theres another trustee.

You are right in the case of lost coins increasing the price rate of Bitcoin,  that’s absolutely right. But as for a way to inherit Bitcoin?  That will be impossible,  and if there happens to be a way for doing that,  criminals might see it as an opportunity to steal more from people. People should just write down every information about their wallet and store it somewhere safe.

If you trust any member of your family,  maybe you should let them know about your business you're doing in Bitcoin and also let them have access to it,  if you are very sure that they can be trusted with such information. That's why I do like a business that is being done by a group of people,  cause if anyone of them passes, and the others can be trusted,  then they will give everything that belongs to the late member to the family member that should inherit them.

Actually there is a platform for your concern and it is www.digipulse.io (http://www.digipulse.io) It is a smart contract where in its like last will testament that says whenever the contract has been met (for example a wallet has not yet been open for several years), it will execute the contract. Their ICO is a success so I believe you can already use their platform.

Thanks for the link I was hoping something like this to be created, I'm not old by any means but this is something that has worried me for sometime, I will not use the platform right away since I already have plans of how to deal with that situation myself but if I have any need in the future this will be one of my first alternatives.

it all depends on you, if you want to share the key on the person you love, why not ..
we can inherit all of this. The desire to inherit money is better than inheriting a cripto coin.
This prevents the forgetting of mankind, if forget the key wallet then it is all charred.

Indeed,there are several types of coins that are likely to be lost If not in control and transactions rarely done in a long time so that automatically blockchain system can be closed instantly and result in loss of assets later.

     I think if you want your family or relatives to inherit your crypto,you need to educate them first about crypto. Then it's up to you if you give to them your password and private key so that they can access into your wallet. Because if ever they can't access into your wallet,those coin will be remain in your wallet and nobody can claim it.

It's very simple to let somewhere our access data to crypto, in the unfortunate case we'll pass away.
The real problem is that if your relatives are not in the crypto field and you didn't "train" them, there is the risk that they will find your private keys but they wont have any idea of what to do with them.

The best way is to let a close envelop to a classic notary with all your data access AND detailed instructions about what to do.
At least, this is what I did.
 

I think there might have been similar threads around, but I can't find it.

This has been a ongoing debate, but for me, its your responsibility on how you plan your cryptos for the future specially as an inheritance. Some says that they write it down, everything. Including private keys and passwords in case something bad has happen to us.

But I don't like to have a (automatic?)mechanism. It should be really up to the person on how he/she is going to transfer it. Personally, I haven't done anything to that effect, but I'm sure my wife will find everything on my laptop. She knows every password that I used and all about my bitcoin activity (trading / investing). Just saying.  :)

It's true, if the inheritors don't know anything about Crypto-Currency, they will hardly have access to the coins, in this case they would probably have to ask for third party help, what is very dangerous, as they will have no idea about what they are doing, while a third party service can have malicious intentions with your inheritors money.

In a decentralized world the responsability is totally yours, so you did right by letting instructions inside an envelope. Now it's just necessary to make sure this envelope is on a safe place, where strangers can't have access to it.

Its true that for now there is no mehanics for putting and delagating someone into your inheritors but I would want to argue that this can still be in the works for us if we can save out bitcoin wallet we can use it like a time deposit that wehn our children grow up we can hand them our wallets burtsing with cryptocurrency in the hopes that they can start and invest on it the right way

I think what we can do is trying to delegate our bitcoin to someone and teach them how to use bitcoin so we could ready when the time comes for us to transfer our bitcoin to them. I am preparing to do this to my other family and I already teach them everything I know about bitcoin so, in the future, I can give all coins to them in someday. but we can use the other way to delegate our bitcoin to them by withdrawing the bitcoin we have and then we can deposit that money to the bank for a long-term so when our child grows up, they are ready to use that money for their own purpose.

Although Bitcoin is an asset but it cannot be inherited from generations to generations, since the system recognizes an entity using its identity. However, if you're looking for a general crypto locker, and the gold standard for that used to be TrueCrypt, which, alas, is dead with no clear successor. Else, you need to have at least one back up of each of these wallets. Even if you have back-ups of everything already it’s a good idea to make at least two and store them in different geographical locations. This process can actually be kind of fun on its own and give you a lot more piece of mind if all of your assets aren’t already secure.

 ;D ;D How about just writing a will and including all your details to be given to the person you want it given to after your death. Well, that is in the case that you trust your lawyer and it won't be your lawyer that will kill you first.

I actually recently came up with an idea of opening up a vault in a bank, and then having all my private keys, username and passwords written out and then keeping there, while my next of kin will be able to have access to it incase anything happens to me. Hopefully that should work. I may even combine it with the will thing anyway.

We are so used to trust a central authority that it's difficult to understand that in a decentralized world we need to rely on ourselves and to take our responsibilities. It's not difficult to find a way to leave data access and instructions to our loved ones.
Actually, is something mandatory!
If you let money in a bank, your heirs can prove their right. In bitcoin this won't be possible.
So, think about it. Now. May be, tomorrow could be too late...

Well bitcoin for example, is consider legal tender in Japan so I do think that Japanese citizens should inherit their family bitcoins. the problem in my opinion, is that even if they are entitled to inherit the bitcoins from a decease member of their family, if that person didn't told anyone where he would store his private keys, or seed, or something like that, then those coins would be lost forever. Maybe they could put their seed on a will, but I'm not sure they could trust a lawyer with that information. I think it will be very hard to solve those problems with crypto.

Aaaaaand that's a little and forgotten point about how cryptos are deflacionary. They sure can be lost forever with someone dies without give the means to theyr loved ones withdraw the cryptos

There is no special problem in letting data access and instructions somewhere. And you can make this in complete safety.
Of course, if you don't take any precautions you money will be lost forever.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as inheritance in Cryptos. It should be done in person or by providing the details to the person who will inherit all your cryptos. We also need to undergo the hassle of teaching of teaching them how to convert crypto to cash. If their mind can keep up, we can also teach them how to trade. Crypto inheritance can also be prone to hackers so lets inform them how wild things can go in the crypto world.

If you have a huge stash then better be in the safe side now and hire a lawyer that will be able to pass on your keys to your loved ones in case something happens. You may also choose to teach some of your family members now how to use bitcoin and access it because we never know what the future will be. It's better to be safe than sorry and what if you are their breadwinner and they don't have anyone to rely on so it is important that they know what to do in case. Maybe in the future someone would be able to do something for those coins that are inaccessible.

You have your point because every time you indulge yourself into this kind of negotiation its kinda business already if you hold it means you take a risk for the the earnings. Cryptocurrencies is a useful for all especially to your family, in that form you can benefit a lot.

your problem is quite simple yet substantial, you could just simply give your password and security numbers to your trusted beneficiary, in case your beneficiary are not capable of doing bitcoin transaction due to his or her age, means he is still a minor, you can hire a lawyer to instruct him to make the legal transfer of your documents, basically it is the same as transferring wealth to your loved ones when they reach full capacity to receive such inheritance. dont make your bitcoin life so complicated though.

We need to start understanding the difference between a decentralised system and a centralised one. Bitcoin is simple, if you want someone to have access to your coins when the inevitable should happen, give them everything they will need to make that happen without holding back any information. Its not fiat where you get to supply your next of kin that would be contacted for your resources. Lets just learn that we cannot get everything we need at one point.

Lol. Please! Do you know how much some children will be cursing their dad or mum even after death now, knowing maybe they had some huge number of bitcoin stashed somewhere and not even knowing how to access it while they are just struggling to make a living when they could be living a better life ? A lot has been lost with people now, and sure it may be good for the holders, but honestly, it is not fair to the loved ones.

I once say a meme of a wife crying and saying something like 'he has a lot of money in crypto world, but I do not even know how to access them ? What if he dies ?' I want to believe this is something a lot of people in the crypto world are already having at the back of their mind already and also making moves to make sure that what they have worked all these while for will not end up being useless once they get out of this world.

There are many ways to access of one account because bitcoins are virtual form of money by unbreakable cryptography. It means it can secure way to store wealth. But if the owners pass away, it can access their relative because each wallet uses a string of random characters or we called as private key it visible to anyone. Maybe it can discover on his relatives because  the owner has to ensure that someone gets a copy of the private key by writing it down or storing it on a flash memory.

That would be truly selfish not even giving a single person the details of your holdings and then dying away with it. No one knows tomorrow, death is inevitable, and it can happen anytime. At least even for someone who does not have loved ones, will it to charity. ;D ... My wife has been disturbing me anyway to write down all the access to my holdings, I just do not have the time yet, I guess I just have to consider it one of these days so as not to end up selfish and being punished after death for that cruel some act.

Right you can give your private keys to the one you've always trusted  and let them keep it in storage I suggest that your children deserve it  and make them understand how crypto works because crypto was so complicated compared to wealth that we used to..like fiat money in the bank,jewelries or gold,house and lot.

You can always place a sealed envelope with your lawyers, with instructions that it is only to be opened on your death by your heirs. The trouble with people saying "well my wife knows all my passwords" - what if she dies at the same time as you? How would your children access the coins then?

This is an important subject that most people simply pay no mind to.  As a finance guy I've come to see that the majority of people don't have their finances in order let alone have a Will and or Trust established so that they may leave their valuables behind in a proper manner.  If you don't have a proper will established your assets are likely to go to probate and end up making it hard on  your loved ones to sort out. 

Great read here- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-13/bitcoin-industry-grapples-with-age-old-problem-of-inheritance

;D ;D That part of killing because of your coins really got me laughing. The truth is you cannot trust anyone but yourself, and sometime even those you think you trust so much are the ones that can go ahead screwing you at your back. So the best thing is to find a way to make sure they have your stuffs when you are gone, without generating so much interest on them keeping you alive or not.

Exactly. Thats what the suggestion is when people asked this question in different manner, like, "What will happen to the coins we hold when we die" or there were also questions like this "What about the coins that we hold and we dont share private keys for after we die". This is literal question and Wirth thinking about this. Then most of the answers came in like this;

1) We should put the private keys on a paper and then keep that in the locker for which the relatives or loved once will have access.
2) Or write it down in the death will where we pass on the whole information.
3) Or even there were suggestions like handing over the info to our legal persona and then he will pass it on to loved once.

So yeah inheritance is real importance and must be taken into consideration if we are holding million worth of coins.

That's why you need to secured your account so that  it will not easy to hacked, back to the topic above,  it is better to share all the details of your account specially to your partner so that in case something bad happen, they can still access your account, specially those private keys, but you should limit the person that you want to share it as much as possible your wife is enough, or your eldest sibling.

Crypto is also like a regular asset. If you wanted it to be inherited by your heirs then do the necessary training and documentation. He/she should be aware for the the passwords and keys where you put all your assets. It's the same way if you have any traditional business.

I wouldn't mind inheriting cryptos which is why I plan to keep some cryptos for my kids to inherit. The private keys to the wallets will be kept in a will and specified to be given to them when they reach a particular age.

I hope there will be a good blockchain technology that we can do it by that. I am also worrying if what if I die and my family does not know about my cryptos.

We must anticipate from now, we will not know the calamity will happen to us. Therefore we must tell about the ownership of bitcoin or other crypto to our loved ones. Accounts even passwords and personal keys. By telling them all if we are gone, the money or assets we have will not go away. There is no need for a mechanism for inheritance rights because in my country bitcoin is not protected by law. All that is done alone.

What I'm doing is for my family and for my coming child. All what I do is for them. I will not hide what wealth I'm going to have. I will teach them as I succeed in trading and how I do it as what wealth I'm going to have. For password of wallet I have, I make sure that it will be kept safe and a copy where my child or my wife will know on a safe. I'll make sure everything is planned before I get sick or passed away.

I think the most simple approach and solution is to give it to a family lawyer if legalities are of
great matter and importance. You can simply put it in paper like a will or something, that's
usually done with properties and inheritances, I think it can also be applied here as well.
No one is gonna stop you if your wish to tell your son or wife that if ever the times comes
this will be yours. If it's wealth and money, It can be prepared and organized just like a lawyer
distributes inheritances when someone passes away.

There is nothing wrong with me giving a personal key to a loved one (family), but at the right time not for now, your family is encouraged to know what you have so far, if we do not have time to tell our family. then already know how valuable everything you have, maybe they need more needs, than the coins you let until no longer shaped.

If you had a happy family, I mean, a good relationship with your family especially your wife, she should know everything you own because it's a conjugal property, even though it is not your true name encrypt in a certain coin but for the sake of a good fortune to your heirs, just give your private key and it's done.

There was an ico dealing with that problem it was called DigiPulse I have not checked it in depth but I think it was a good idea now if you do not want to use an external service in order to inherit your coins to someone else then you will need to find a way to give your private keys but at the same time without losing control over your wallet, after all everyone that has access to the private keys is the owner of your coins as well, and it doesn't matter how much I think about it there doesn't seem to be an easy way to give your coins to someone else and still retain control of them.

right, we must leave some coins for our children, because besides aiming for investment, it can ease our need in the future. my advice for investment, i think is better btc or eth