Bitcoin Forum

I have recently started investing in crypto, and I have now decided to create crypto savings accounts for my children. Is it possible to create accounts/wallets in their name, that I can control while they are minors, and that they automatically will become owner of when they turn 18? Or will I need to create a crypto account for myself and just manually gift it to them when they become of age? What might be the smart solution?

I'll be depositing funds in their accounts regularly, which will keep sitting there for about 6-10 years, so I'll be looking to accumulate some sort of interest during that period. What options should I consider for this?

You can create a wallet address for them on a hardware wallet or airgapped device and send Bitcoins regularly to it. You can also intimate your spouse of your plan and teach them how to work around cryptocurrencies if they are not savvy, so they can always access the funds should anything happen to you and still fulfill the purpose.

This would require some sort of staking on a centralized platform. This comes with the risks that you are not in control of the funds and the platform can fold, seize or freeze the funds or get hacked.
If you're going to invest in a decentralized asset, you should not shirk the responsibility that comes with safeguarding the assets.

If you want to save some Bitcoin for your children you don't need to create any accounts that are centralized controlled.
All you need is to have your own Bitcoin wallet and seed words that are held in secure place, use hardware wallets, and than you can add additional wallets for your children.
THis can be done simple with separate passphrase for each child, so they would need to have two things to recover their keys.
First part is your seed words (that is the same for all children) and second part is separate passphrase known only to them.
If you want to make everything extra secure than you can create multisig setup with your children.

Cryptocurrency doesn't work like a bank account but the only thing you can do is create a Cold storage wallet for the minors, and set a transaction notification for the wallet so you can get instant notification about the wallet's in and out transactions there's telegram notification bot that can do this.
After that, you can start weekly on monthly DCA investment on Bitcoin and move it to the wallet.
If the cold storage is too complicate for you to understand, get a hardware wallet for the minors.

Go for a hard wallet and you don't need to create an account with your children's name or anything, it doesn't matter. Let your wife know about your savings and also give her the seed phrase to keep them safe in case anything happens to you.
He can take notes on a paper of the investment, there is no need to give that task to a telegram bot or anything else which can harm the wallet. If OPs intention is to save bitcoin for his kids.

It seems like you're planning to sign up in a centralized wallet because you've said it under the name of your child.
No, that's a big mistake, don't trust any centralized wallets and store your Bitcoin for a long term that is intended for your child saving.  That's not how will work.  Centralized exchanges will have a right to your Bitcoin anytime and not under your control or your child's.

Choose these [BIG LIST] Hardware wallets (80+) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5282364.0) which are very safe to store your Bitcoin that you've control on it.  You can keep it and give it to your child when at the right age.
I always said here this valuable rule for storing your Bitcoin, "Not your keys Not your coins".

Why not create a wallet with electrum for your kids and share the seed phrase with them and use the time lock to send BTC to their wallet?
You likely lock a transaction and it only triggers or is sent to your kid's wallet when the set time/date is reached.

The only problem is that you won't able to spend them until the date/time come.
This one is a future saving it's a good option for your kids.

Follow the guide here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2415595.msg24712087#msg24712087

There are no rules here. Heck, you could create a crypto wallet for your dog if you wanted to. As with a non-custodial wallet, you're not even going to need to provide AML/KYC documents. All you need is to generate a wallet, then store the backup securely.

Read: https://cryptosec.info/wallets

What do you mean you're "looking to accumulate some sort of interest during that period?" If you're thinking of a bank-like scenario, that's something not advisable as it means you will entrust your funds to a custodian. It's risky and not worth it. The best way is to have your funds kept in a cold wallet. Forget about interest. It could mean your children might not be able to enjoy it.

A hardware wallet is a good choice. Create an address for each one of your children. You can even name those addresses with their names. Give them the private keys as soon as they reach 18. Keep the seed phrase safe and offline all the time. You're saving for your children.

Also, since this is for the next 6-10 years, you might want to focus only on Bitcoin. Avoid altcoins as it could mean they're already worthless by the time they're given to your children.

This is a truly a nice initiative and thought for your children but hope you're also aware of the risk involved and judging from your profile and your post, it seems you're also knew in the industry right ?
If yes I think you should try to get the necessary knowledge and get yourself equipped because you wouldn't be HODLing just your coins but also the coins of your children and at sure have to be conscious of every move you Make as well as your decisions and just as other users have said and adviced, you should get a hard ware wallet since you intend HODLing for them for a long while and try as much as possible to get your spouse involved just incase anything happens to you, the coins can still be accessible.

The best storage to hold Bitcoin for long term purpose is a hardware wallet. But it doesn't work like banks where you're trusting centralized party about your funds and you can able change your ownership to your child after providing personal information. Don't forget there are a lot centralized exchanges got hacked every year and some of them were bankrupt, you don't want all to lost all of your Bitcoin isn't? that's why you must avoid holding your coins on centralized exchange.

I will not prefer locking my assets for that much long term period so either you have to keep them until they reach the certain age or just create a wallet one for themselves and keep sending the funds to it periodically but only check is you can't lock in so as long as they received they can able to send whenever they want so first step is to teach you kids about the importance of holding so the investments will actually grow and let them to manage on their own with much responsibility and no nonsense investment schemes.

I'm aware that it doesn't work like a bank account. I've been reading about possibilities to earn more crypto simply by holding it. One option is staking, but it sounds like there are other possibilities as well, but I haven't looked that deep into it yet, and it also seems a bit complicated. That's why I'm asking.


I was thinking something like 50% BTC, 25% ETH and 25% others (is there some sort of crypto index of the 20-50 most popular or valuable coins that you can invest in?) Does that sound sensible?

So are you saying bitcoin or other crypo funds are never safe, unless they're on a flash drive or something?
I started investing in crypto about a month ago, buying BTC at the Binance Exchange. I understand it's the world's largest crypto exchange – is it really unsafe to keep funds in a Binance wallet or any other wallet at a large crypto exchange?
I've recently transferred all my cryptocurrency to Pionex, hoping to earn a little with their trading bots. Is it also consided unsafe to keep my crypto in the wallet at Pionex?

Staking for children investment purpose? It seems wrong because you might be entrusting this coins to centralized exchanges and just like Darker45 stated it wrong. It looks as though you are looking for a sort of way to earn more from this savings and if you toil this part you might be ruining all savings.



Trading Altcoins is way too risky than bitcoin not to talk of having them as saving. No matter where they stand at on the altcoin log now some of them wouldn’t last 5 more years. Terra Luna looked promising than some we had now but you saw what happened imagine some sort of that happening to any of your picked Altcoin. Stick to bitcoin or I would rather say do your research but don’t gamble on the children savings if truly that’s your aim of saving this funds

it's a good plan and very rarely done by parents in general, but my advice is don't make them a bitcoin wallet first, it's better to use the wallet you use.
because if you intend to give your assets to your children in the future, the most important thing is bitcoin.

so it's better to use one wallet, to make it easier for you to control everything, and when the time comes, you just have to share your assets with your children.

Of course, the option you suggested is more reliable and better, but you can also get by with the simplest one. Namely, create a wallet in electrum (after taking care not to compromise the key) and keep several copies of the btc address for receiving. Of course, write down the seed-phrase and save it in a safe place, and uninstall electrum wallet and all related files.

To the extent necessary, send money to this btc address and accumulate it there. When the time is right, just give the seed phrase to your child.

Also, I agree with Upgrade00 that one can't do without teaching the child (at least) the basics of bitcoin. When will he be able to assimilate such information.


Accumulation of interest on the account will not be necessary, as btc will generate returns far in excess of any interest promised by the centralized platforms. Risk for the sake of meager interest, giving your funds into the wrong hands? What might not be smarter.

Earning interest from crypto is a bad idea. Because it means dealing with centralized platforms or DEFI, both of which have high chance of being scams or simply failing because they are not sustainable. Also "crypto" itself is not a good long-term investment that can last 18 years. Because the lifecycle of an average altcoin is just 2-3 years. And even high profile "good projects" like Ethereum lack the fundamentals that could inspire confidence in their long-term survival.

So buy Bitcoin and hold it yourself, and when you child is ready, teach them how to use it and transfer the coins to them.

I can see that you have a big dream for your children investing in there names which is a good step and you can also do that with cryptocurrency but the problem is that you will be in possession of the private keys so that nothing will happen to it until they grow up.
You can easy do that with fiat but with crypto you will need to be teaching them about cryptocurrency so that they will keep learning until they grow up. There continueous learning will enlightened them on the basics and necessary path they wi need to follow to keep there wallet safe when they grow.

That's a hardware wallet and yes, it's safe there as long as you have a private key.
Those hardware wallets have their own built-in security features that don't have in a centralized exchange.  For the long term, hardware wallets are the best wallet for storing crypto.

Keep in my mind there's no real coin on the exchange, that's just a number that is shown in your dashboard or wallet.
Those real coins can be seen on the chain by its network.

Yes, that's unsafe there.
Just trade only an amount that you can afford, not all your assets, and don't let all your crypto sleep on the crypto exchange's wallet.

Just use a noncustodial wallet where you have total control of your portfolio, you only need to give them the private keys, but before they reach the age where you will hand them the private keys, be sure to educate them on how Cryptocurrency works and the whole situation in the Crypto industry, what I mean is the many hacking, scamming, and dramas, I'm sure these will still exist and they know how to secure their wallets and of course how to trade.
I prefer hardware wallets to store coins for the future.

Yeah, there are indeed a number of ways to earn from your savings. And, yes, staking is one. But all of them are risky. And the longer you keep your funds there, the higher the risk. In the end, everything might not be worth it. So, save yourself from that complication and save your children's future.

You must have encountered the likes of BlockFi, Voyager, and Celsius in the news. Those are where you could invest your savings. Those are giants in the crypto industry. Those are all dead, clients' money included.


75% BTC, 25% ETH is tolerable. But you might want to consider 100% BTC. But 25% others is courting unnecessary risk.

It is better for you to create a personal wallet for each of your children so that you can control it properly and make a schedule for investing in Bitcoin for your children.
Later when they grow up, you can hand over the wallet to them or use the assets based on their needs.
For this, you need a hardware wallet for your kids and keep it in a safe place until the time comes.
Don't forget to teach your children to use crypto if they are getting older so they can use it well later.
If you buy bitcoins on an exchange, send them immediately to a personal wallet, hardware wallet or other wallet and do not store your bitcoins on an exchange.
You can keep only bitcoins in that wallet because investing in altcoins carries a higher risk because we don't know which altcoins will last for the long term.

This is exactly what a lot of people have been suggesting about having a hardware wallet to store money in bitcoins and like a savings fund for the OP's kids, I think this is the best way to stay consistent with investing early.
About the seed phrase, however, this must be learned by keeping it very safe and no one should know except later after the adult child can give it, just store it in a place where no one else knows.

The 6-10 year term is a good term, it should still be in bitcoin and not recommended for altcoins because it will kill your investment when choosing altcoins.
Choose bitcoin and do DCA much like saving

This is a very good idea, its a bit risky since the price goes up and down all the time, but once bitcoin and other cryptocurrency will be accept by all public, it will be worth millions of dollars that depends on the coin you'll be investing in, few pointers:

• Don't invest on shitcoins
• Invest on top 10 coins in the market, you can see them in coinmarketcap
• Since its for the future of your children, study well before putting the money  for less risk
• put 50/50 on real-world asset, and digital assets, its okay to gamble but put some security at the end

Hope this help welcome to crypto/digital world.

Initially it's a great idea making preparation for your children better tomorrow that a very nice one I will say.
But I guess you should know the risky that implies in doing such and also the either profit or lost it can also cost.
In other to make this work out for you is to make trier on what the other investors has open up so as to avoid future regret on you investment.

Making sure you create a hardware wallet with there names and have it kept secured.

Use a timelock, and subtract the current age of your child from 18.

That will tell you how many block you're going to have to lock your transaction for. For reverence, a block is mined approximately every 10 minutes.

The only downside to this is that the bitcoins become locked (as implied by the name) until the specified block has been mined, so you can't take the bitcoins out before that time. And since this is a child savings address we are talking about here, there is really no reason you should be doing that anyway.

This is a very cool idea. Being untouchable of the money is the main feature that OP need to have or else he will just end up spending his kids savings once the price pump or he experienced a tight spot which he needs money badly.

Is this timelock feature possible to do using hardware wallet? And also can you suggest a perfect smart contract code or step by step tutorial on how to do this in our Bitcoin wallet?

I don't think crypto works like your normal bank account, I believe you can achieve this by opening a Crypto wallet for your kids, keep up with the routine progress on the wallet till they come of age, share the password and login details with your spouse should in case of any eventuality.