Bitcoin Forum

If I die (let's be honest, that will probably happen), would my wife or family get my coins? What if they don't know my passwords/private key?

Well, unless you set some fail-safe plan (for example giving your seed phrase to trusted persons) that Bitcoin you owned will be lost forever. And my guess is that is happening more often than we might think as people rarely think about that.

I personally sorted that in a way that several close family members have access to my cold wallet info, and an instructions who to contact (since they know little about Bitcoin and wouldn't be able to sort it out by themselves ) to help them out.

I attempted to make a guide here to show a way it's possible to make them inheritible: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5285003.msg55471258#msg55471258

There are other ways you can use if they're not too technical but this is probably the safest.

Losing coins for ever is not bad as the supply decreases a bit! So, the value of the circulating supply tends to increase! :D

But yeah, that's pretty much it. If no one have your PKs, then those are no one's coins!

Unfortunately for their families and fortunately for the rest of the users, most of the bitcoin owners never think of this scenario.

This won't “probably” happen. Dying is the only sure thing in life.

Only if they have the private keys / seed phrase or if they own the inheriting transaction which you must give to them before you pass away. Check: Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5180850.0).

this has been a very problematic issue, if the person in life keeps giving their password or private key that person runs the risk of losing everything and if the person dies and does not give anything that person will leave nothing. in cases like these, the best strategy would be to leave a will with a lawyer and also leave several pieces of the private key with several family members and instruct them that only together they could have access to the fund.

You will die. We all will. It will not just probably happen. It will happen. It is just a matter of when. So everybody should be prepared in terms of their well-kept or even hidden Bitcoin. There are so many ways to make sure your Bitcoin would end up with your family when you die. You could write down all your private keys and passwords on a piece of paper and then seal it inside an envelope and keep it somewhere in your room, at the back of a painting, etc. Or you could include that in your last will that is to be opened upon your death.

What should you teach and you tell your family before you die about everything related to your Bitcoin assets why it is so difficult.

After you tell the key, how Bitcoin works to your wife is complete, you don't have to worry anymore, if you leave this world.

There is already a similar topic/thread posted here and same question being given and that is Unless you shared your Private keys to anyone your coin will be dead together with you.
so better to be ready for emergency to come means you need to have a Keys known by your family or friends or at least has a written in papers that once you died they can access that testament .

Then it's lost, forever. At least if you don't give them access, but if you do, then well it's just like transferring ownership of the assets from you to your family, but if not well, to quote what I just saw earlier.
So fear not! If you died and you weren't able to give access to your wallet to your family, at the very least, you made a donation to every other Bitcoin holder out there!

If you intend to lose it from the beginning then just burn it. It's true though, less supply makes the price good.

I agree that cryptocurrencies are the only things you can bring with you when you die, no one will ever loot your grave for gold today. Leaving your coins to love ones is good. Let them just have something to do than just grieve. Why bring something to the grave when there is no one will spend it there?

Only your trusted friend or family member will inherit your bitcoin when your time is up in this world and it would be a future plans to have in order for your bitcoin will have a full purpose to your family for a financial support that is. You can teach your wife or any family members regarding about it incase of something inevitable and pass phrase or private keys should be entrusted only to them.

Simple answer, if they dont know the private keys your coins would not be able to get accessed by anybody. Hard truth, the coins will be lost forever.

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So the simple solution to this is allowing your next of kin to know that you have bitcoin or altcoins and teach them about it. At least teach your wife about it and how to at least access your wallets in your "absence".

After that you can make sure to teach your children once they are having a robust understanding of blockchain and how crypto works and then distribute the coins to their wallets.

Indeed there is no inheritance system for bitcoins. You have to do that yourself. But give a read to the "Locktime" post by LoyceV as posted by @BlackHatCoiner.

Your coins will be lost forever, if you die without giving your family your seed. Therefore, It will be a great idea, passing your private keys to someone, who can manage and inherit your Bitcoin, when you are no more. Although, it has to be well trusted person. I told my elder brother my private keys, and also lecture him about how Crypto works. In case something happens, he will be able to manage and inherit my Bitcoin. However, is impossible for someone to have access to your coins, without the Private keys.

No one will benefits from your hard earned funds here if you don't let anyone to have your private keys and passwords.
all your money will die with you and even your dust no one with benefits.
so be ready for what to come and let your love one knows about your investment before everything happens accidentally .
I have my keys in my vault that can be opened by my wife in case of something happened to me or in emergency cases.

If you hide money somewhere without telling any body when you travel to far distance where your family neither your wife will not hear from you, can anybody notice of the money you  hide without letting anyone know?  The truth is everywhere you know it by yourself that anyone that dies with secret of cryptocurrency wallet nobody can withdraw and have access to the coin.

The best way is to have the backup stored in some metal sheet like seed phrase engraved over it as many have suggested this but if you say they never know the keys then forget about it that they will have your funds after you die because you don't have keys you don't have btc.The best is to make them aware about it at the first stage and tell them about where it has been stored but to only you trust so make sure about that thing.Many have lost their coins and the results are decrease in supply in only.

After death your Bitcoin will lost if you didn't give seed to your next of ken. So you should have a safe plan before you die. otherwise your family will lost all of your assets. And they couldn't claim it. So the best advice for the Bitcoin to deliver your family you should give him your wallet seeds.

OP, if you are asking a question like this, who can help you if you don’t do anything on your own? I think this is somewhat absurd. Ask what will happen to your relatives after your death, what can we tell you?
I think even a stupid person understands, if you are afraid of something, start taking something in advance, if not, then just spit. Everyone will die, and this is the problem of the individual, what he will leave behind.
By the way, it would not hurt to check the forum for the existence of a similar topic.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5284824.msg55490195#msg55490195

Maybe this will help prepare for the departure to another world.  ;D

This issue is as old as hills. Don't know how many times people have asked this question. Such questions must be pinned here. You have given a valid point that such lost coins are removed from circulation and that may result in increase in value of BTC. We all must pass our credentials to our loved once, so none of our hard work went in vain.

Every people will die.

IF you do not tell anything about your coins to your wife or family, that will be buried without anyone can access and they will not have a chance to know that you have a legacy that they can use for their life.

IF you tell them about your coins or make a letter of inheritance about your coin and how to use that, I am sure they will have access to all of your coins and can use it for their benefit. But you still need to give the resources for them to learn more so they can know what they need to do related to your coins.

So it will depend on what you should do because you already know right now.

Some wallets like : Zebpay they do have a whole section dedicated to such things. Apparently you can add a nominee to your wallet, you do not have to share anything with them for the time being but after you die they would be the holders of that particular wallet and can do anything with it as well.

Some people use private services like : Lawyers and such for paper wallets and at the same time this is not only trustable for some but you can make a whole contract as well and file documents in court.

Well this is complicated for sure, but I would advise you to look into your wallet and see if they offer such services and if they do then you should definately add someone there. Someone you trust.

That's depends on your choices when you're alive, So I'll advise you to make good ones before you leave.

I don't know if it's safe to let Family members know about your seed phrase or private keys but I see it as a necessity, The only problem one will encounter is engaging a family member with dubious character. Meanwhile, I know someone who was a Bitcoin Broker, unfortunately he was assassinated with his cryptocurrency knowledge and Seed phrases and that wealth has been lost because nobody knows when they are going to die.

Then let them know while you are still alive.

Everyone dies, you should keep a private key in your safe and just tell them to access it when you are gone. However, it's also necessary that they understand what is bitcoin and how to use it as it's better if they won't be needing other people's help to cash out your bitcoin in case they'll need to spend it, just for safety purposes.

This happens, because we need to keep everything prepared to meet the unexpected. From my understanding about the cryptocurrency inheritance, it is good to have something similar to the joint account we have in the banks. If we need to make a withdrawal both the account bearer must be available. If one dies, then the other gets the right to withdraw on submission of death certificate. If something is possible in similar way with the access to add nominee, then this will work without flaw reaching the right person.

However here a third party service provider gets involved, we need to find a blockchain through which this can get eliminated.

Take a look on this one.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5180850.0

Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts

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We do all die and if those keys werent known on your one of family members then those coins will be lost in the void
or simply means it cant be accessed no matter what thats why the decision would be yours whether
you do let them know early or not.

teaching a partner about the crypto world is very important to me, where the word "DEATH" always looms in every life, we are looking for assets for our children if we just keep quiet and keep everything on our own, later we die, the treasures we have will just disappear,
dude crypto is different from money in the bank which when we die can be passed on to our heirs without the bank trying to find our family data, just reviue your data on form

sorry to bring it to you but dying is not something that would "probably" happen, it will happen at some point that's how life works, I didn't quite understand your question, your wife or kids or anyone close to you can access the wallet the same way YOU do, so you better find a way to give people you care about the info to your wallet, or make a will that has that and if you die it will be given to someone of your choice.

That's good advice because your coin is useless if they don't have an idea how to use it or spend when the time you will pass away.
The chance is they might hire people who are expert on it it could be handed to the wrong person that has an interest in it.  I think introducing them while you're alive is the best thing to do and save your private key in a sheet of paper and put it into the safety vault.

There are too many ways how to inherit our assets safely to our family, it could also hire a lawyer about this.

Recently, I saw an interesting project preposition for exactly this scenario. The project's idea was to create a certified testimonial in the format of an NFT so much like your will in the form of an NFT. The concept extended beyond crypto assets to real world assets but my concern was around the KYC issue and the idea that if people wanted to pass on their crypto assets they'll need to provide their private keys - the solution wasn't very clear to me but it included encryption and notaries etc

While this idea remained as just an idea (to me), if the two concerns of identity and private seed sharing are somewhat solved, essentially we'll be looking at a least a few million dollar project value preposition idea. That will solve these inevitable questions.

What are your thoughts on this, would you trust third parties with your seed before the encryption process? Will you feel confident to provide your KYC?

We dont know on when we would die and now im already teaching off my wife on how crypto works and how a wallet do works on the very basic way.
When you die and your loved ones doesnt able to know on whats the keys of your wallet then theres no way that they could access it and it would
be such a waste that those coins or assets that you've been working hard will really be not benefited out by anybody.Do you really love that to happen?

If we are dealing and investing in cryptocurrency then we must learn how to trust our keys in someone special to us. to those who we are working for because all our hard earned money here in this market will be go in vain if we die without entrusting our funds to others.
meaning no one can access our wallet aside from the person who knows your seeds.
this ahs been the issue for long and there are tons of bitcoins(and other cryptocurrencies) gone in the wind because of the reason owner died without any recipient.

If no one has access to your private keys and wallet, then the coins will be dormant forever unless someone some how manage to get access to your coins. That's why it is important to have some sort of backup plan so that you can pass on your coins to someone else after your death. You just have to make sure the person you trust or "your plan" doesn't compromise the safety of your coins. You either die with your coins or you trust someone else with your private keys.

As long as your kids/familly aren't crackheads, show them where your private key is. If you don't have children/ familly, find a friend you have absolute trust in and give them the seeds to store in a safe.

The answer is that it will definitely be swallowed up by the earth along with those who hold it!!! Of course you don't want that to happen, do you? the best way is to provide openly and true information about everything you do so that what you do is not wasted and wasted.
no and there is no other way than to give a relay to those you trust until now.

It will loss forever , can you imagine that all the funds you tried to gain for long time ? will be gone like that because of you dying.
try to find your worth trusted person that can accumulate all your funds in time of dying , we all does so hope you do the same thing mate.
remember that no one can access our wallets aside from whom we entrusted the Keys .

It is recommended that passwords or private keys be kept confidential, meaning that we can still provide confidentiality to people we can trust. if you trust your kids and your wife i think you can give them your private key. because the age of humans cannot be predicted when they will die. I think so, than bitcoins stored forever in your wallet in vain.

Dead is inevitable and unpredictable, so the solution is having one of your family members that you trust and let the person know where you save your private key, passwords  and email address associated your accounts.

Well, hope you live for long years but after you die none can access your bitcoins and withdraw or exchange anything from your wallet unless you have a plan for your children to take benefits from all you left, you can just write your recovery seeds and keep it somewhere safe where only the most trusted you know can use and see the recovery codes after you died you can have many plans like writing the location of the recovery seeds on your will, however in case your funds can still in danger also you should consider alternative plan if your children couldn't find the seeds.

If you didn't give it to them then of cause they wouldn't have the necessary information to retrieve your crypto assets from where ever they are so, you already know what to do. This has been a discussion over time in a different post and for me, it is highly recommended that some family member have this info or is able to access it in the case of death so that your crypto investment wouldn't be wasted.

Death is inevitable. We can only delay it from happening, but it's certain that it will happen. If you have an account that has funds in it, I suggest to let your trusted person know about it so that when unfortunate event happens to you, someone can access your account. Make sure to let only the person who you trust the most to know about important details about your account, otherwise it will be compromised. I know it isn't really advisable to give out password and seedphrase, hence you can opt to give them the partial information only and not everything all at the same time.

It's better to have a notebook that contains significant information about your funds and then store it in a safe place such as vault that no one knows about as long as you are fine. You can opt to tell your trusted someone to know that you have a vault, but don't tell where it exactly is. Leave them some sort of message, riddles, or mind puzzle to find it and its password. That way, you are not telling outright and easily the crucial information. You can also choose to make the password or seedphrase a puzzle for them to solve upon. Just leave them some clues so that they could benefit from what you worked hard for.

If you won't do this, or any other kind of way to let someone access your account the moment you fell from your demise, all the things you've worked hard for will all just be put to waste. It won't be benefited by anyone. Except the holders because every lost or unretrieved coins contribute to the price increase because of lower supply and higher demand. But other than that, it will have no more use. It will just be stuck in the blockchain as long as it is running.

If you have not told them your private keys to your spouse or kids, and if you die, then those coins will be lost forever and no one will be able to use them. If you want that your wife and kids benefit from your saving, you need to trust them and share with them the private keys. You may keep them private in a locked safe and tell your spouse to open them if only once you are no longer alive.

I also have created a thread similar to this years ago. All I'm going to say here is be careful when disclosing your situation about bitcoin with loved ones, it is a very touchy subject. Whenever money is involved then there's some precaution that you must think about even if it's with the person you love or wife.

I don't want to turn this thread into the dark but let's be honest here guys, most of the murders around the world happen for a man or a woman, and years later with the investigation, it turns out to be the spouse that did it to gain something. I know its sad but this is reality. I am not saying all spouses do this but more times than you may think whenever the husband or wife discloses to their loved ones about "Life insurance" if the gain is big then suddenly we see that person dead. Please don't mistake what I am trying to say here I know it's not ALL THE TIME. But I've seen many many many stories about a homicide and then later on we found that the poor man had life insurance then the wife killed him for that money. It's sad but happens ALOT.

Ok, so what's the msg I am trying to say here is. Do not tell the wife/husband how much you got in bitcoins, if you're a girl or a man and want to leave your bitcoin for your family after you're dead just leave a full paper with instructions as some of the guys posted previously. Instruction of how to get the money out of your wallet or exchange, plus a person to contact which you know that he/she knows something about cryptos. Also don't tell that person whom you added to contact about this paper, basically tell nobody just do the paper with instruction & contact personal and leave it in a vault. Rest assured that this vault will be opened when you are dead.

Thats my 2 cents.

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I understand that you mean well here but this is a death sentence. Read my post above which I explain how that could be in a long msg, but please do not do this especially if you own a lot of bitcoins.

Some people may feel touchy that I said telling secrets to your "kids & wife" as a death sentence because they love them a lot and they feel that their wife&kids love them too a lot! Believe me, I understand this, but human beings are complicated.

Emotions could really play someone and this is where it do varies on how much you do love your family specially your wife and children.If you do really mind on giving them at least the benefits on what you are working hard for then you would definitely mind off on how you would share those
important or valuable information.

You wouldnt really just let everything would come to waste and as a father or family man then you would really be thinking this way.

The reason many people invest in Bitcoin is that they want their family's future to be secure. Because Bitcoin does have the potential to generate
large profits if we hold it in the long term. So if we want our families to enjoy the results of the Bitcoin investments we make, tell our family
the password and where we keep the private keys. It's really sad when people hide everything about Bitcoin from their families. Because everyone
must die and everything will be wasted if the Bitcoin that we have cannot be inherited. So don't delay telling our families how they can access
our Bitcoins. Because we never know when our death will come, we have to prepare everything from the beginning.

Well if your family doesn't know the password of your Bitcoin wallet then it will be loss forever, because we all know that the Bitcoin wallet can only be acces by the used of the private key  so if your family doesn't know about it then there's nothing they can do on it. I think the best or good strategy to avoid this thing to happen is to tell or share your private key to one member of the family.  I think there is no harm on doing this.

Man, don't think about that so negatively! Soon we will be able to fuse with technology and then immortality baby!! :D Anyway, I'm guessing that anything that is left behind you is regulated by the country where you reside and are a citizen of. Sure, anyone would have to have access to it, but I am guessing all investments go to the first beneficiaries.

Well first --I will tell you that is not good if you will share with them about your private key, perhaps the best thing that you can do is to educate them about crypto. Because there is possible that one of your members will traitor you because of greediness and get all your crypto assets away from you.
The best thing is to put it into a metal case with a private key and tell them that you have a bitcoin but do not expose it first, just reveal your private key with your last will statement at the end.

So it is gome, because no one can open your wallet. Must be all people in family know about it, why not? this is big investment. Big investment, people near us must be know or at least can do basic thing about it. Doing investment by ourself wouldn't have good effect as impact, i mean don't need to keep a secret to our family if our investment is really big.

for me, of course, the coin is for the closest and trusted person who can handle it. I mean we can't do anything and can only hope that our assets are managed well in the future, therefore choose someone who is trusted and able to manage it. just like any other investment where when we die, all assets will be taken over by the closest and most trusted person, so we just need to use it well while we are still alive.

They won't recover you private information because bitcoin still remain intact within the circulation of blockchain without being harmed or accessed by somebody. Much better if you have a trusted individual which you can divulge all the information you had if you think you're going to die soon. My advice to everyone who had illnesses, don't take your wallet securities secretly much better if you could have a prospect so that in case of death the asset will be recovered and be spend by the living person who can handle it.

If you die without any of your family knowing your private key, definitely your bitcoin will be in your wallet forever,  you should secure your private key but atleast store it in a place where your family members can easily see it after your death. for me am securing my private key in my diary which I believe nobody will have access to it for now until i die and I believe after my death then my family members will be able to access my wallet and make use of any amount that's there.

Since cryptocurrency is a digital currency, if you die, it's all gone if no one has the access to your private keys. It's up to you to decide who you gonna trust to have access to your wallet private keys. As for me, am not disclosing mine based on how human beings behave when they seem to have access to your assets. It's better to stay alive with your private keys only known to you than think if your trusted relation has sold or withdrawn your crypto coins before your time

It's simple, if you don't tell your wife or kids, you won't be able to pass the bitcoin benefits on to your family and the bitcoins will stay in your wallet forever.
it may not be good considering you have a family. so my advice is that you have to give your secret password to your wife or child who can be trusted to be able to be a re-generation to pass on your assets in the form of bitcoin.

This has been asked many times here so if you did a little research then probably you had an idea already.

Well anyway if you die and you didnt let your loved ones to know your private keys, your Bitcoin will be lost forever because no one can access it.

Dying is inevitable thus if you want your family to benefit on the assets that you will left, its best to inform someone you trusted the most.

If you die your Bitcoin is still Bitcoin and wouldn't change anything.

If you tell someone about your private key, he can access your wallet and do anything with your coins.

While if you don't tell anyone about your private key and no one know about it, no one can access your coins and it's a donation for everyone. Because when you can't access your coins, Bitcoin supply will reduce... not all of them were in market. The more scarcity the more the price gone up.

not just wife or kids or family members because this can be a friend that you trusted more specially if you have no family members
actually he can set it all in his last will and testament , there is no need to give those right away, it can be out in a Vault together with His physical assets and bank books that will only be open once he died .

that was if everything had been planned well before he died.
but if he dies due to an accident without a plan to make a will to be given to the family or the handling party. I guess the owned BTC assets will never open again.
at the very least, we should tell how to manage assets or teach families to invest in crypto assets. so when the family gets a will or knows the file to access the wallet. they can access the inherited BTC even without the help of others.

I think this is not the first time I've encountered this related thread here in the forum and answering OP's concern whenever a bitcoin holder dies left without any notes or no one knows that he/she has a crypto asset then no one could access his/her digital wallet. I don't want to think any bad things happen to every bitcoin investor or holder but I think as a preparation for any circumstances it is much better that we take down notes of all our important phrases, keep it and leave a direction note to where it is located if ever it is not stated on the last will. No one wants to die or unexpectedly accidents happen but if anything would happen it is better to leave our family something that could greatly help.

well, if you die without give your wallet account (username or private key or passphrase) i think you will let your bitcoin stuck at that wallet, your family just can see your bitcoin without have access to use it, i think it will be good if you tell your family about your wallet account, user name, private key or pass phrase from now, because honestly we can't now when we will die haha ;D ;D

many threads have explained about how to do so that our family knows about the coins we have and holds full private keys with valuable assets. Everything must be arranged and made in the form of notes as heirs of the wallet you have.
There are many ways that can be done if you really care and want your family to know about the investment and some of the coins you have.
only trusted people are included in the inheritance rights and don't give it to people you don't trust.

As a Example, Have one Bitcoin in my wallet and i am alone, not have my family, Then I don't have to think about what will happen to my bitcoin after my death. And i think it maybe dangerous if someone share about his hidden fund with his Friend. 

Unless you've thought of what to do if that time comes then I think that it's possible that your bitcoin would be given to whom you choose to give it to and in the case that you didn't think of it, I think that it's a good call to say that you're bitcoin will forever be lost especially if it's in a hardware wallet.

what happens to bitcoin when I'm dead, maybe the answer is simple, because it all depends on our own stance, this goes awry, if we give the code to someone else, our bitcoin will most likely disappear, if we don't give the key to someone else otherwise, bitcoin will be wasted, I personally think it's better if we leave a will to the closest people and people we trust the most, so that bitcoin can be used by our children..

You are a person who owns bitcoin assets, do you believe in your child. If you trust them, you can also tell them the confidentiality to access your wallet. The method is very easy, you just need to give them trust, if one day you have died, then the child will be able to manage your bitcoin assets. I think this is more suitable, the most important thing is to instill a sense of trust in the children themselves.

It is advised that we should have at least a single person who would handle our holdings if ever happens in the future. In my case, I and my spouse are both holding a small amount of Bitcoin and we entrusted each other with our wallets' access. We should be well prepared since we don't know what could possibly happen to us in the future. Entrusting our funds with our family members would be a wise idea but we have to make sure that they would also know what to do with it in the future.

can't do anything if you don't know private or access to bitcoin wallets or other crypto wallets.i
ndeed that's a risk that must be known,, with risks like that from now on give or give a password or a note on how to enter a bitcoin wallet on .those closest to us who we can trust.and it's like an inheritance to our closest family or friends.

actually it is not a problem if you lose your assets. because it does not affect the market. but I think it's better if your assets can be passed on to your children, and your child or wife must know your password in the future. so I think it can be useful for your assets in the future

It's going to be a major issue for your family or children because they won't know how to obtain your bitcoin and also because it's a large sum of money that could greatly benefit your family. Imagine if you were the only one earning money and feeding them when you suddenly died. What will happen to your family? They will struggle! That is why the last will and testament were created; those assets could be given to family members. Therefore, I believe it is best to inform them and also have a physical wallet available to them. It is preferable to be prepared, as we never know when we will die.

no one knows when and where, as an investor in crypto it is impossible to die an asset but cannot be used by relatives or children. My advice is that you leave important notes to be accessed by your wife and children when you die and before that you have to be open and teach your children about crypto that you have storage assets in the form of bitcoin assets so that at any time you die they will know you have an inheritance. abandoned.

It will not affect the market, but it will affect his family wherein he can give the asset to his family while he teaches them how to use it.
By doing that, your family can have an asset from you that is passed away and who knows, they will have a chance to make more money from the asset.
That is what you should do if you care about your family and want to see them have a better life and use the asset appropriately.
Besides that, by teaching your family about your asset, they do not have to confuse or search for the other job because you teach that by working from crypto, it will be enough for them to cover their needs.

Bitcoin is a crypto currency with no physical existence. A person can store Bitcoin in his blockchain account. Secured De-Fi wallets can also be used for storing bitcoins, and the details should be stored with the ultimate privacy. Hence, when a person dies, those details can be lost forever. In that case, it will be impossible to recover them again. However, the person can decide to share the details with his family members considering a case of emergency like death.

its like your secret story, they will disappear with your life.
your family will get your coin if you tell them about your job, not only that coin, but also how to do something if that bad thing happen.

the problem is, most people who use bitcoin is younger, and their parent dont know, or they know but just know the outside. when we start to tell, it will take long long time for them to understand because of age. good decision if you have right man to make action if that thing happen to you.

This is the reason why now that you are still alive, you should pick the most trusted person or people in your family so that if an accident will happen at least somebody knows how to access your Bitcoins or altcoins.

If they don't know your passwords or private keys and you die (hope not) then those coins will be lost forever at least for now. We don't know what can be the technology in the next years and decades and maybe we can see something that can get lost Bitcoins (though I'm not expecting this to happen) but to summarize, if nobody knows your private keys then your holdings will be lost forever.

As for me, I already gave all my private keys to somebody that I trusted with so that if something bad happens to me then at least somebody knows where are my holdings and just sell it immediately.

What happens to your digital assets when you die, there doesn't seem to be a single answer to that question and but There is a lot of good advice to be prepared when we die because death is certain.
and the best way is to make a plan or instructions for making a will as most people say and make a list of how to use it or how it works so that the heirs can access it and can use it, and you have to give it the will of someone or a family member you trust and you believe he can do it.

and if you realize that death is imminent, it is a good idea to make a sale and transfer it to your wife if you are married or another family member or tell someone you trust about the assets you own before death arrives.

Most of the time, the money or any investment that we have we wanted it to be inherited by our love ones, if you die and forget to provide any information to anyone there's no chance recovering all your asset anymore, you needed to make sure that as early as now, talk to someone who you really trust and provide the information.

Make sure that you fully trusting the person you are dealing with, especially if you are owning a huge amount of assets.

Internet is an easy access to hack your money, trusting is another thing for sure. ::) 8)

Occurrence of death come impromptu which nobody knows when he or her day to return to ancestors  will occur so it is better to show your beloved one the password of the wallet were bitcoin is, but no matter of fact that we are trying to make one and two persons to know our wallets password,but we have to be careful to the one we should give to, because of security purposes

You can stick to all the technical solution to it, but my two cents, is go ask you, now do you trust your wife or child(ren) right now and if by chance death call you now do you think they deserved it for real and not because they are for family? If so you can make things less complicated and work with the answers you give now, if you trust your wife or child (ren)  you can let her into some secrets but make sure you trust her, they are many lost bitcoin already due to this uncertainty of unplanned death.

I see a lot of mentions of "private keys / seed phrase" in this thread. How do you get that?

I'm a newbie in cryptocurrency - My uncle gave me 1.00 bitcoin as a gift and he set up a Bitcoin Core program on one of his old laptops, that he gave me as well and added a wallet.dat file.

I'm young and hopefully won't die for a long time. But, you never know these days with covid variants. Just thought I'll create the private keys / seed phrase so I can give it to my little brother or mom, for, just in case moments - and with directions to come to this forum for help. Reading threads on here on my free time has helped me so much. ;D

Thank you.

Majority of men on here on this forum doesnt really trust up their wives for sure even myself when it comes to finances yet we know that but there are people or men who do really give all their trust but honestly who would be the ones will really be benefiting all of your hard work?
Of course it would be your family but there are just some personal reason on why we cant just trust up even on family members
which i dont able to explain it well.

Bitcoin is safe. Others can access your bitcoin only if they have your key. If you have shared your key with someone else, they will be able to use it after you die. And if you haven’t, your bitcoin will be lost forever. No one will be able to make use of it.

Death is not a Probability, it is certain and if you do wish your loved ones to have your private key(s) to then you have to share it with them in some way, maybe immediately, or plan how they will access it when Death happens which is a good Idea because I don't suppose we all want what we have invested in to go to waste at the end.

This is an important  topic one should look into and consider. No one is going to live forever. In life there must be someone around us that is very close and can be trusted, people  like this can get some important belongings even if anything happens. Like my son would have access  to my private keys when ever am down or something else .

we have worked hard for our money here and this is the reason why we must let others know about our funds and how they can access in time of dying.
because what is the sense of our working and effort if all of our funds will come to nothing just because of unexpected death?
turn to others let them find our keys when there is a chance
well that is the question actually that must be answered and let OP learn what to do in His  coin.

share with others and not let it die with you .

they can if you will make ways or idea how they can open it once you're gone.. If you have large amount of BTC as of now then as soon as possible make backups and find a safe place where you can hide your private keys.. And then a notes incase what will happen to you. Of course its up to you which place you want to hide it because you're the one who know them well.

That may be one good option. IMO in everyone life there are people who are very close to you and for whom we work day and night. They may be your parents, wife, children, siblings etc. Better give them recovery materials in case anything happen to you, so that all you hard work is not lost on the darkness of blockchain.

This is a question you need to ask yourself not the forum. I think there was similar question to this before now so you can always jump in to see similar replies for yourself. If you eventually die without disclosing your phrase with anyone, the that's nobody business. You can always get try as much to tell people around your secret phrase or where to get it, so they can steal from you...simple!

and the way to give the secret key I think is by giving a will, because when we die of course no one will know it, it could happen if it is too early to tell at this time, so we need to make a will for people who will be the heirs of our assets later. if this is not done and no one knows, our assets will freeze automatically, because no one can access them

If you happen to die without sharing your private key/wallet to someone else or to your family members, then they will be lost forever or just stuck there- thus contributing to its inflation in the future. Just to give you an example, Satoshi Nakamoto owns around 750,000-1,000,000 BTCs in his wallet but they remained to be untouched. This is why some speculated that he may be dead due to the lack of movement from his address.

That is why, it is somehow advisable that you store your BTCs in a hardware wallet and brief your wife/family members about its existence in the event that you unexpectedly die. In this way, they will be able to reap the benefits you left compared to it being stuck forever.

Why people always ask something that is not important in the forum? We don't know anything about your bitcoin assets. if anyone dies, we must always have preventive measures from every asset we have, not only bitcoin, communicated with his family, not in forums. because the asset you have is your responsibility and you should know what to do. if you have a close person or family, say your secret phrase to someone you trust, your bitcoins will be useful for other people

I m really trying to understand what you are saying here but I guess you are saying the OP should not disclose his secret phrase or keys because you fear people might steal your crypto? You are correct in one thing though, your crypto and whatever you do with them is everyone's business but I don't think we want our crypto assets lost because we didn't give access to them to anyone.

if you don't hand over the private key to your wife and children, of course your bitcoins can't be taken by them, your bitcoins can be an inheritance for your children and your wife as long as you hand over the private key to them.

Tomorrow is never promised to anyone that he will reach it.We take it for granted but that is how life is built on,it is full of surprises,even when we sleep there is risk of heart attack or some nasty scorpion bites you,I know this happens extremely rarely but they do have happened.

After having said that it is true that after we die the coins are gone forever if we don't leave behind Private keys,Passphrases or Seeds and Passwords to anyone.However most of us here are young at age (I know a few forum members who have gone missing suddenly,may their Spirit be in heaven) but this is something not to be worried right now,personally I hope to be alive for some other years and to see Bitcoin raise in price and I convert it to cash,do what I like plus leave inheritance in cash to my child for the moment (hopefully I will have another one or two in the near future).I don't intend to leave to anyone my private keys or seeds as they are not technical capable of using it so for me it is a gamble,if I die the coins are gone but that is ok for me.

I am sob/sad/bored after reading this thread,please no more threads like this.

I believe that most of us heard the story of a crypto company CEO that died years back, and due to the fact that he was the only one who knows the private keys of where the company stores their cryptocurrency, there was no other way for the company to continue due to they have lost access to the cryptocurrency that was being held by their CEO. Even the wife doesn’t even know about it.

So, if you should die without any of your family members at all knowing your private keys or passwords to your wallet, there is no way that they can be able to gain access to it. So, we are just going to say that your cryptocurrency that you have in that wallet is lost for good.

Well, the best thing to do is to leave instructions with your lawyer for your family to find your "Private Keys" and passwords. I have hidden mine in a secret location and I left instructions with my lawyer that only my friends and family would be able to decipher. (Easy explanation : "Please find a little bag, buried at our favorite tree at our best family holiday location")

Just make it more complex.... so that the lawyer could not find the "hoard" by asking a couple of simple questions. Prepare the family that they will receive a question as part of your Will.  ;)

that is when the holder of the private key dies, and doesn't tell anyone, so the asset is gone. even living people have lost their private keys, and many have asked if they can be recovered, but unfortunately if the private key or phrase is lost there is nothing that can be done to recover it.

Well this issue needs to be discussed by every bitcoin user bit no-one thinks about it.  As giving your seed phrase might be risky but what if you put it on a safe place and mention it in your will which much be disclosed after your death.

The situation is simple – your family won't get the Bitcoin if it happens that way. It's the same way that you (as owner) won't be able to gain access to your wallet or exchange if you can't remember your password to them. It's obvious a lot of people have died this way leaving their wallets inaccessible because they didn't get to reveal their passphrases to any family member. I'm one of those who believe that there's no way the maximum total supply of 21 million BTC will be feasible. A lot of Bitcoin will never be recovered because of such a scenario as OP has painted.

Yeah, every man who has enough wealth to be given to its beneficiary can just make its will, including the wallet name, passwords, seeds, etc. with the power of attorney.
But if you don't trust such way, you can just make your family members knows about your cryptocurrency thing, let them know where you pull all your holdings and how to access it.

To be honest, if they didn't know about your password or seed, they wouldn't be able to get those coins, and those coins would be lost forever to your family and from the market. That bitcoin amount won't be usable for anyone. I am also aware of that. That's why I write my seeds and pass them on to a notebook and keep them safe. Now I am teaching.

If you store you secret wallet keys or passwords in safe place and if you mentioned your  heir some one he will.get you worth and if you not tell anything about you bitcoins and keys they will be lost and not useable.

Of course, it is the obligation and certainty that animate beings in this world experience one (death).

Should be, your question I'm sure you yourself will know the answer, of course from the six pages that have been answered by the community here, 1 or 2 answers, will definitely enter your memory.

my idea, how you treat your current wife with respect to your property, the same thing you can do for your family about Bitcoin, before you die.

Private keys or bitcoin passwords are recommended to be kept secret, but in maintaining confidentiality, don't let all the closest people like your wife not tell you. Death can come at any time, and you cannot predict the future of the bitcoins in your wallet, if only you know the details yourself. try to entrust the things you keep secret to people you can trust for whatever you keep.

In general, someone who already has a wife or family, he will give the private key to his bitcoin wallet to his wife or family so that the Bitcoin he has can be used for the needs of the family he left behind. From now on we should give a mandate to our wives so that one day our wives can benefit greatly from the Bitcoin legacy we leave behind.

Yes, people have make a similar statement before this post, without been known bitcoin private key is suppose to be keep aside without somebody knowing the root, but due to death and life interchange our private key of cryptocurrency supposed to have especial document with red pen to show that it is not suppose to be opening every time and minutes, we know bitcoin wallet ID is confidential but we are suppose to show our siblings to know because of death

If you don't hand over the private key to anyone, the bitcoins or altcoins in your personal wallet will never be opened and transferred by anyone. Therefore it is necessary to give private keys to people we trust to manage crypto assets after we are gone. This is a legacy in the form of digital assets.

They would get your coins if they do have the private keys of your wallet which simply means that you would really still need to tell them about those informations if you are really that serious on giving out some inheritance of those assets once you do die.Of course you would be telling and teaching them about on how to access wallets and able to make sell once you do pass out.

So it all matters on how well they do get those informations at least with the basics but if you cant trust up your family while you are still
living and they might be accessing those wallets early then this is where personal choice do really ends up.

Well, we have to get used to the peculiarities of the decentralized market. We are the complete masters of our cryptocurrency in everything. There are no intermediaries and third parties here, and we ourselves are also fully responsible for the safety of our cryptocurrency. This is a problem not only with bitcoin, but with the rest of the cryptocurrency. We are so arranged that we think little about our death, especially since it can come quite suddenly. We ourselves need to provide options for access to the secret keys of the cryptocurrency for certain individuals in the event of our death. Everything is in our hands here.
But practice shows that the losses will be great and they are inevitable.

I thought that this thread was actually one that was been running for over a year now (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5284708.msg55461529#msg55461529) (it’s not). Although it bears the same topic, there’s some wiggle room to place the current thread in the "need to plan" scenario, whilst the other thread is in the scenario of the event being abrupt, with no time to plan anything that’s not already been planned.
 
Between both threads, there should be enough to at least reflect on what could and/or should be done, bearing in mind each one’s own wallet topology and personal environment. Going the extra mile, and actually depicting the plan, informing those who need to be informed of what they need to know, and even testing the plan (contingency plans should be tested if possible) is what’s likely a compromise that is not carried out as much as it should.

Just as a reminder, based on the abrupt scenario, and for a sample obtained from the forum (which is likely more prone to considering all of this that people outside the forum):

(Percentage is estimated chance of achievement)


Note: There’s an additional non-intentional technical difference between both threads mentioned here, related to this (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5101715.60).

If no one knows about it and its key, it will be lost forever and no one will be able to profit from it. You can simply share all the information with someone you trust and whom you want to take advantage of your investment after you die.

If you die and no one else has access to your private key, your bitcoin is gone forever. This type of scenario is exactly why custodial services - at least up to now - are so important. Of course, there can be an overreliance on such services, but there need to be ways to pass on bitcoin to loved ones when one passes. I believe Charles Hoskinson has mentioned that this is a problem that must be solved in the industry.

When you will die your bitcoins will not able to use anymore because there were jn wallet and wallet passwords are only in your brain. If you store passworsds in notes and diaries then you guardians will get Bitcoin otherwise they couldn't buy and sell.

I actually didn't find any solution on that .I am the only person of my family ,who have the knowledge behind this coin and the crypto market as well .My wife ,she has no idea about online ,how could she recover it when after my death .I have daughter who are in 8 month in age ,I just pray to almighty that he can give me more age to alive.I wanna teach it to her to get my asset easily .I also taking a note like you if i don't have much time i will tell my wife to give it one of my trusted friend who has proper idea about it .There is nothing more idea can help me ,My family may lost everything if they don't able to restore and sell it .Only almighty knows what will happen in next .

As if there's really someone that you can trust if money is involved. Even a partner in life can be tempted to steal money from his wife /husband then start a new family using the money. Its better to hire an attorney that will handle you last will and testament that includes your Bitcoin private key. Your keys is protected by the law and will never be reveal unless the condition met.

it will only happen if you choose a bad life partner.
but in real life, it can happen. and indeed a lawyer is the best choice to take care of the will we leave for the family.
but choosing a good and honest lawyer is also important. because if you can think someone in your own family can be bad, why not someone else?
if you continue to think negatively, of course, take your bitcoin assets to the grave. and it will be an asset that will forever accompany you.

Well, obviously they can't get into it and access your wallet as they didn't know your passwords/seed phrase/private keys. These certain cases happens frequently across the globe because as the owner gets fatal in some accidents or forgot their own passwords. So it's very important to disclose it your own family like your wife or eldest child if he/she knows how it works, ofcourse it depends if you give them a step by step knowledge how to access and withdraw incase of emergencies because in certain occassions, they can't still access it if they don't know what to do with it because they just see some random words.

I agree that you should plan ahead of time and protect it for security reasons. This is similar to a will and testament, but this one is more akin to giving only a flashdrive. The best thing to do is keep a ledger in a safe place and tell your family that you will open it until you die, as this is the only way for them to get your bitcoin until you die. If you do not prepare for this, your bitcoin will die as well, and your family will struggle to find money. Anything could happen and we dont know when we will die but we should prepare to transfer our wealth to our family

Indeed. The only way that the family of a deceased Bitcoin holder can benefit such is if that person was able to passed down the accounts and passwords to the family before passing away. And given the nature and risks of just writing it down on a will testament that can be read by different people, it should be saved securely. Otherwise, the bitcoin will just be frozen.

ya.ya.yo!

this is a great way to write a passphrase code or bitcoin storage password into a will and save it in a document. only designated family members can open the will. other than that it must be strengthened by using a lawyer or attorney so that the document is safer. this is a good step to secure assets

We do have to tell people we trust how to access our Bitcoins, so if the worst thing happens, we can inherit the Bitcoins we have to our families.
That way our struggle to collect Bitcoin can be useful and beneficial for our family or people who are really close to us. We all have someone close
to us who can be trusted. so before bad things happen to us, we should not delay telling people we trust about the Bitcoins we have. We must be
able to teach people we trust so that they can actually access the wallets where we store our Bitcoins. So the Bitcoin that we have will not be stuck
forever in our wallets.

hello is it true that satoshi is dead?

they said Satoshi was dead, but here he put out the NFT with the first mention of bitcoin.  Now I've seen everything

it can be a scam right?

dude, the nft is posted from his address. he either alive or get hacked. both ways works fine for me lol http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/xn/detail/2003008:Comment:169634

In this aspect he is absolutely right, no one is able to think beyond what some think, and if you do not write something in writing it is impossible for them to access your BTC, however there are many crypto projects that keep their information in Blockchain and that only those people you have said in life have access, although the papal is something that does not fail, but it all depends on how prepared your family is for such events, that is why the help of a lawyer who can write the document with private keys may be the solution.

Yep, it's good as gone forever if there's no one you'll tell how to access your private keys or wallets installed to your any device.

Most likely, give it to the person whom you're trusting the most. If you're unmarried, your mom, dad, brother or sister and if you're married then to your wife or children.

Yes it can be, and don't just listen to random newbie account that will shill for everything .
and never buy that Idea that Satoshi has something to do with that NFT that is a Big joke to trust lol.

Who will benefits from our coins? of course our love one and there is no one we can leave our funds but them.

I dunno - what arrangements have you made?

None? That's on you, buddy.

Sux to be yer fam.

If you hold Bitcoin in cold storage or an account like Binance, Coinbase and no one knows your password or encryption code when you pass away, it's gone. It's loss forever. However, here's what you can do. When you pass away your bitcoin can go to your wife  by law if it is owned jointly . Second, you could set up a contract agreement for the key to be passed on to your wife/family through a signed legal document. Something like a beneficiary form. Third way, through a written will.

Actually this is a matter that is still being debated because each person has their own thoughts on what to put their assets after they die. to be honest if that happens of course all assets will be given to the family, but not every family member understands the crypto world. that is still a big discussion in the future. but we have to prepare for it because it will of course happen. Personally, i have started to introduce the crypto world to trusted people, at least they understand a little more if in the future I am gone. so the assets I left behind can be used by my family in the future.

teaching a partner about the crypto world is very important to me, where the word "DEATH" always looms in every life, we are looking for assets for our children if we just keep quiet and keep everything on our own, later we die, the treasures we have will just disappear,
dude crypto is different from money in the bank which when we die can be passed on to our heirs without the bank trying to find our family data, just reviue your data on form

Death is a topic many people feel uncomfortable to talk about, but truth is its all part of our life cycle. And in the case of owning Bitcoin and one passes on without sharing the private keys or passwords to the platform where these coins are stored then these coins will keep existing just in a dormant state unless some cracks the password or something.

When I die, I will definitely bequeath my bitcoins to my family. Chances are I'll give it while I'm alive or give away my private key in a will after I die. It's a bit risky to give away my private key when I'm not really ready to release it, in this case bitcoin. Because when we provide the private key, we automatically have to be prepared for the worst.
So, the wisest choice in my opinion, is to leave bitcoins when I'm really ready.

If you will die your Bitcoin will also die because BTC is in wallet and no one know the password of wallet or account so then BTC will no more. If you higher some one and you tell him password and keys then he will use your BTC.

My solution is to use a private key with a password aka BIP38 key or a HD seed with a passphrase (BIP39) and to give to your heirs the key/seed without the password while you're alive. Then you just need to create a scheduled email for them with the password/passphrase written in it (without the key/seed to prevent hacking attacks ofc) and to cancel and reschedule your email once or twice a year while you're alive.

I do not think it is a valid question to ask in a forum like this. That is your matter, and no forum member can suggest what to do with your bitcoin after your death. We cannot advise you whom you can trust with your password and other secret details in case of an emergency.