Bitcoin Forum

I lost a friend this week; he was meant to be 30 years old today, but he died a few days before his birthday today and was actually buried today. It is terrible news, and it got me thinking that death can be untimely, and it is not only the old or terminally ill that are close to death but also anyone; most investors in bitcoin will not get to old age to actually enjoy their investment. Thinking about that, it has to be said that planning for who to own your bitcoin after your death does not have to be when you are old but when you have accumulated bitcoins to a sufficient amount.

As your investments begin to mature into a considerable amount, while you consider the security and safety of it, it is also important that you consider the situation where you die suddenly and your Bitcoin gets lost; no investor would want that except they have no family and friends worthy enough for it.

Everyday we learn and relearn.

I think at the moment of starting out to plan on your bitcoin accumulation process, the plan for a next of kin that should inherit your portfolio in case of uncertainty with death should also follow suit. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone but just a hope and that's why I think protecting our investment in a way that it should fall into the right hands should we close our eyes in a flash should also be taking into consideration even as we plan for old age. Better for posterity to reap our efforts than losing it to nowhere.

So sorry for your loss. My condolence to the family.
Sadly, Death doesn't really care about age nor if you ready.
I think many people have gone without anybody Knowing about their Bitcoin.
What's the essence of investment if you nor your loved ones can't even enjoy it.
My family do have access to my stash
But hopefully we all get to enjoy our wealth with them.

Are there even such people?

If you have no friends, no family and no children, life has screwed you over, or you've done it to yourself. There aren't many people like that, but in such situation maybe there's something you like doing, like caring for a cat or a dog and your savings could guarantee a long and happy life for your pet.
I'm yet to meet someone with nothing to care about.

Unfortunately, there are individuals in such conditions. Life has not blessed them with the best persons as family, and they have also been unlucky in friendship.

Maybe such persons can pass their bitcoins to charity and helping humanity.

Sorry for your loss. Death is a painful thing especially when it happens to people dear to you. As for the topic of investment and letting others know, I try to look at it from both sides. In as much as I know that I shouldn't trust anyone, my upbringing taught me otherwise. Just like a have a trusted friend I can confined in together issues, I can also have a trusted partner that I can share private information with in case of any emergency.

Sorry for your friend's dead. My condolences. Base on the topic, I think this has been discussed in the local board and different view points were given. Dead is unpredictable and for that we the investors should always know what to do. Those with family members like children and wives and husband should will them to the appropriate benefactors and foe those who have no immediate family should either spend more on his life, do some charity and will to extended family m members.
Many people in this forum always think the otherwise and they never thought of the untimely dead. And that is why whenever such issue is raised many debunk it will r reluctant about the issue.

Sorry for your loss, OP. may the soul of the departed, RIP.

This topic has been discussed a couple of times on the forum but its relevance still can't be underestimated especially since death, and when we die is not something we can control. The only thing we can do is to focus on what we can actually control and that is adequate planning on how our Bitcoin(s) and other assets are managed in our absence.

It's an important thing to do but it has to be done carefully and with caution.

That’s why I always involved my spouse every time I take leap into a new investment. Most especially for bitcoin where I have been doing it for a couple of years already. At least if ever I’ll be gone all of a sudden, my bitcoins are safe in the hands of my spouse as I have been teaching her the do’s and dont’s of bitcoin all throughout this process. I’m doing this for the future of my family, so I have to be open about this not just to my spouse but to my kids as well.

Unfortunately, this is still not certain now, because I myself believe in the family but the children are still young so there is no way they can understand now except for my wife.

I used to think that I wouldn't share it with anyone because I remembered that death can come at any time, whether it's to the young or the old, we will never know.

But now I have planned for something more meaningful - meaning that investments will not be wasted if we die, so we must involve trusted family to know what we have in these assets.

Man, Im really sorry about your friend.  When someone dies young like that, it just slaps you in the face with how fragile life can be.  One minute you are making plans and jokes with your friend, the next they are gone.  Makes you think hard about stuff in a way you usually dont day to day, doesnt it?

You make a good point too - when we are young we dont think much about dying unexpectedly. We are too busy trying to build for the future and all that, whether its Bitcoin or whatever.  But then something like this happens and it hits home that all those plans could just disappear if your number gets called early.  Kinda sobering to realize it could all vanish in a flash.  Really makes you reevaluate things.

Anyway, Im rambling here.  Mostly just wanted to say hang in there, man.  Losing someone without warning is rough.  Cherish the good memories with your friend take the time you need.  And try not to dwell too much on the fragility of it all - easier said than done I know.  But focus on living while you can.  Your buddy would probably want it that way.

The living is always planning on things he can achieve and accomplish as he is living, it is hard to see young persons planning about the afterlife, because in their mind they believe that they still have the times and energy to reach their goal, so the discussion of death and who to inherit their supposed property they've accumulated becomes an after thought, which is why is almost impossible and very unlikely to see a young man that has a Will that will be read to his family if the unimaginable happens.

So in as much as there is always a need for us to properly assign our property to our immediate family or our next of kin should in case of any eventuality, the need doesn't arise for most young people to think towards that direction, this is something that has been discussed on several fora, because cases of young people not having a next of kin to their properties always reoccur.

I believe is a continuous call to rekindle the spirits of young persons and allow them know that death is inevitable and can occur at any point in time, so hence your planning to successfully live on earth and acquire properties also have it at the back of your mind that you should plan for your exit too, which is unpredictable.

It is important, now that we are still alive, to make plans on how our loved ones can get access to our bitcoin if we are no longer here. However, this can't be easy for everyone because bitcoin is more about privacy. It is not like the banking system, where a next of kin can only have access to your account once you are no longer alive. In bitcoin, once you expose your privacy, your assets are no longer safe, but it is always better for those who have loved ones that can be trusted. If you don't have a family member or anyone you can trust with your privacy keys, then it means that if you are no longer alive, no one can access your bitcoin.

You're right death is an inevitable part of life so in what ever that we are doing we should have that at the back of our mind so coming to Bitcoin investment we should be able to protect our investments securely but it will be good that we have a next of king in what ever we do and coming to Bitcoin investment we should at least for the sake of unforeseen situation like that to have someone that we trust in our children or close family members that we should let know about the details of your investment in Bitcoin as it will be of help because it will make your investment not to lose because the person who made the investment is no longer there

My condolences mate. Death is inevitable, and we’ll all go there in due time. However, with the type of investment we have, it’s really ideal to set plans and goals prior to investment, that includes having someone that can be trusted with my bitcoin information and all its possible proceeds when I’m no longer present for them.

I’m talking about my wife as she knows my plans and goals for bitcoin. More than securing my bitcoin investment 24/7, I also want to secure the future of the family, and for that bitcoin will definitely serves its purpose then.

Age really doesn't matter when you are talking about death. There is no guarantee we can live tomorrow or the next seconds. You raised a very important discussion, though it has been discussed a couple of times on the forum. As Bitcoin investors, we have to make sure our assets could be accessed by our next generation. For me, I have been maintaining a notebook in real life, writing all the passwords and related credentials of my hardware wallets where I stored my funds. So after my death, my family member can access my funds.

Though my kids aren't suitable yet to teach them about cryptocurrency, someday they could access it. Because my family members know I am involved with Bitcoin, also I informed them I have funds and can be accessed from the notebook in case of my death. Everyone should have an open option for their next generation to access the rest of the funds after they pass away.

My condolences, mate. He was incredibly young and did not deserve to have his life end as quick as it did.
There have been discussions about what to do with your bitcoins should you die considering that we protect our coins incredibly well and we do not let any third party have access to it so in case of death no one else can pass it onto our family but us but if we are dead then we can’t. There have been talks about not having a choice but to trust one person that will hold the seed phrase to your wallet/s. Right now, there hasn’t been any convincing ways to manage bitcoins when we die.

This seriously the major reason why most crypto investors actually safeguard their keys and seed phrase because if this get to a different hand they simply have equal access to the wallet just like you and the scary part is the fact that some bad kins can easily start tampering with the funds once they get access to it. But should this stop one from actually providing a way that his family can have access to that funds after his death? I said No. there are two ways to actually safeguard this wallet and also the family having access to it later.

1. The idea of making the wallet a multi sig wallet is one that can solve problems like that, the multi sig can be 2-of-3 multi sig with one seed phrase backup with next of kin, one with you and the last one stored in combination with your will and should be available when you die, this disperse can limit the fear of it been used by your kin before your death.

2. Have the wallet set up in a time lock and then the back up can be shared with the next of kin and the time lock script will limit the access they will have to the wallet before your death, due to the lock on the wallet. The time though shouldn’t be way too long one can put a little time and if the time comes you can simply do another setup to increase the lock again

Inheritance planning is one aspect of Bitcoin investment that looks very simple and easy to do, but on the contrary, it is one of the riskiest and most difficult things to do. One key ingredient in investing in Bitcoin is trust; once you entrust your credentials to the wrong person, whether a stranger or a familiar person, everything you’ve worked hard for will be gone in just a few minutes. On the other hand, it would also be wrong on every level to die, leaving wealth behind that your family cannot access.

We all know that it is time we let our family know what we know, but we keep procrastinating for fear of the unknown, until the unknown hits us unexpectedly.

This is really a nice idea i should consider. Whoever would know about this book must be trustworthy.

This issue has been raised over and over, infact lost count yet it's a relevant discussion that can't be swept under the carpet. with the rate of decrease in life expectancy we all should already know that long life is now around 70s so how sure are we that we're gonna make it till then! unforseen circumstances are very important to be considered while making investment and death is part of this circumstances. Provision of whom to give access to your wealth should be made consistently and maybe annually because who knows the next minute? nobody can predict so make haste while the sun shines is the case here.

Death is what we all can't escape when it comes knocking on our way unannounced. We can't escape that, and that's why everyone should be prepared and have someone who they can tell about their ins and outs because of issues like this when it happens so that a friend member will actually say that he or she kept or saved something when alive.

I have thought about letting a friend member know about my seed phrase, but I keep procrastinating about it because I feel that I am strong and healthy; unknown circumstances are far from reaching me. I can see that I am wrong in that aspect because nobody is above death or has the key to everlasting life.

However, this is a wake-up call for everyone to remember a day like this will come their way when they never expect. Act fast is ideal so that your family will stay with something you left behind as an investment.

That's terrible when it happens, but if you are the owner, plan ahead and share keys or recovery seeds with a trusted one or include them in your will, so that Bitcoin can be inherited and accessed by heirs. 
I have read about a similar situation where a guy invested in Bitcoin, and before he died, he managed to secure a vault that only his family could access.  When he passed away, his family opened the vault and found a videotape that explained how to access the Bitcoin.  I think it's similar to that.

But no one thinks about this for the future because we know that none of us is ready to die.

learned investor and those who are in the line of Business already knows that before they would join their ancestor they would 'will' up to their children, its often calls generational wealth creation. Then moved out from this side of investment, most people who are wealthy do go their banks to fill up POD form there if the account  owner or operator is gone the next person who was also signatory to bank account will also make withdraw, without the bank having any access to their investment as it would be used against in the court of law.

We can't predict accidents or sudden deaths. We usually think that only we plan when we are already in the state of almost dying. But we now learn somehow the importance of preparations from others' lives. Planning is not just the smartest way, but also necessary, especially if you have a huge investment. That is why I see some business owners and investors making one of their family members work at the company and teaching them even at a young age. I believe that is what we call preparation in case anything happens.

I know there are worthy people around us. We can give them trust and let them work on it.

I've already had a plan just in case my time comes because like what you said, ANYBODY can just die in an instant.
I always think of this quote on a daily basis where it says, "If it's your time, it's your time". and because of this, I'm always planning on how and who will be the one that will inherit or will have access to my Bitcoins.

We don't know when our time will come so as early as now, I'm teaching somebody that's close to me and who I trust the most the basics of crypto especially Bitcoin. I'm teaching her how to deposit, withdraw, how to access, etc. and in that way, she can just do whatever she wants to do with those Bitcoins. I don't want my Bitcoins to just lost forever just because I haven't taught anybody to access my Bitcoin holdings. I don't want my Bitcoins to be added to those ~3-4M Bitcoins that are lost forever already.

Trusting 1-2 people should be fine, and as a person, we know the people around us that are considered "trustworthy" so as early as now, teach them or else...  ??? ??? ???

Accidents or sudden deaths are unexpected realities so it is wise to involve family members and teach them the ins and outs of business from a young age. This is not just planning but also a necessary preparation for the unexpected especially if one is involved in business investments or inherited assets not having a long term plan means putting the family at risk. That is why businessmen and investors should start training someone in the family at a young age so that if something unexpected happens they can easily manage the organization or assets.

No one knows when death will come, a person can die at any time and at any age. However, those who invest in Bitcoin must work according to a plan so that the Bitcoin left behind by the investor is not lost forever upon the death of the investor. The Seedphases of the wallet should be left with the investor's children, wife, and husband, taking care to ensure that the investor's close relatives can retrieve the Bitcoin left behind by the investor. However, Bitcoin wallet seed phases should not be given to someone who would treacherously steal Bitcoin by accessing the wallet.

I agree with you @OP. We should planning for who to own our Bitcoin after we death and prepare all things to that. We teach those who will accept our Bitcoin with all of the thing they need so they can use it after we death.

Sorry for your loss @OP. We don't know when death will come to us. That could anybody, anywhere, and anytime so yes, we must prepare many things including teach those who will continue our journey in Bitcoin.

If we care with our family, we can teach them one by one until they understand and can use Bitcoin without any mistake. We can explain that they can search for more info from the Internet if somehow we are pass away.

I don't see anything wrong with your friend, maybe that's what he planning for?

That's my plan I think, I invest because I'm happy to see my money grow, I feel safer and I don't want to see my money is being misused by other people. Which mean, I invest not because I want to enjoy when it's already huge.

You could say my plan is pointless because what's the point to saves when you didn't spend it? as I said, I'm happier when I see my money grow over spend it.

I also don't want to give my wealth because it's hurt to see someone spend my money like water while I was collecting for every drops.

The Latin phrase that has become a catchphrase, "Memento mori," should be in everyone's head in our time of wars and natural disasters. OP is right; if we understand that we own something significant that can be suddenly lost, we need to be mature enough to prevent this event as much as possible. I would not talk only about death; everything that can disappear by accident needs to be insured. People around us, if they are very close, are unlikely to betray us in difficult moments of life; they can be trusted and explained how to use your "bank" in emergencies.

This life is at times meaningless and unbalanced.

Everyone knows that death could come at anytime, yet some people prefer to go to the other side of life with everything they have, if you ask them why they will say it will make their children to be weak.

A strong man financially will always give birth to weak men, because they won't know how it feels to struggle and build something, since there is a lot of money at their disposal, and when such children grow up they will bring children into the world and few of the children will decide to be strong again to escape the struggles of their parent.

This isn't coming from my head, it is something I heard from old men around me, but with my own little brain I think to myself, can't I have money and still raise very strong children? I don't have to spoil them while raising them, but I always end up with this.

What will happen after my death?

If you never spend money for fun because you know it will go higher, then there's no point in having more of it.

Spending around 30% (in my case, it's enough) of your income to live the life and not regret later that you're just old / terminally ill and all the fun passed you by is a good approach.


Just because you purchased Bitcoin doesn't mean you know the ins and outs of how to operate a business, manage money, etc., especially not at a high enough level to teach someone else.

Some people here think they are clever investors, but mostly they don't even know the basics of economics, and all they know is from forums and articles which for the most part are made out of bullshitium.

Your points are not given enough attention and definitely not in the crypto spaces. Most discuss moonshots, not mortality. But your friend’s death changes the stakes, doesn’t it? Suddenly, we remember that value isn’t measured only by how much we’ve stacked... but by what survives us. Most of us build digital castles without doors. Cold wallets no one can access. Trusts unspoken. Families we never loop in. And it’s not just fear of being hacked or rugged. We fear facing the question: "What happens to my work if I disappear?" We plan for gains. We create for our own independence. But most of us don’t build for others. And ironically, Bitcoin can die in total centralization if only one person holds the key.

You’re right: it’s not about how old you are. It's about your level of readiness to let go, if something happen. Our investing philosophy becomes more whole the sooner we stop viewing death as a variable and begin to create with people in mind. Not just security. Not just custody. Yet continuity. We think about price floors and resistance levels. We don’t think about who we trust enough to receive what we leave behind. Perhaps it is the next portfolio distribution each of us should do.

Sorry about the loss if it is a true story.

It's personal issue and it depends on whether that investor has loved ones that in his or her mind deserves to inherit his or her bitcoins. If he or she is a generous person with warm heart, he or she can sign a document and give it away to a charity organization or entity after his or her death.

Basically it's personal money that was used as investment capital and it's personal choice to hold it forever or have plan of donation, giveaway, inheritance and so on.

[DISCUSSION] Bitcoin Inheritance Planning. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5516043.0)

All of us are busy in accumulating Bitcoin but most of us are not addressing this aspect of Bitcoin which is to handover the seed along with other details to our next of kin. Death is harsh reality of life which is certain while life is not. It must be clear to all of us that our Bitcoins will be lost forever in case we die and have not handed over material to our next of kin about how to access Bitcoins.

There was a similar post like that in the past and after going through that I have passed necessary details to to my family on how to access Bitcoins in case I am not with them anymore.

This is true and many of us think about it in this manner. I use to wonder why is such an early age when registering for something that is money incentive, work or anything of such, you’ll be asked of next of kin and I wonder why they do so even if you’re yet to be married, but I now know why that is being asked as such a young age. Life is not certain and death can come to us at anytime whether prepared or not, so it’s important to have a plan in place that will reward those that will benefit from our wealth after we have gone.

Bitcoin has to do more with security and privacy but it is important to prioritise those we are saving for also, our family to also have a clue on how to access this our wealth. Wealth creation is never meant for the creator only but for those close to him the most, especially the family members to get to enjoy from their pool of riches. No wonder banks makes next of kin an important part of their necessary documentation when banking with them.

I'm sorry for your loss op. I get your point, which is not to wait until old age before leaving a bitcoin inheritance, but sometimes why people wait until when they're much older, and in some cases die without leaving an inheritance is because they don't have anyone they can trust. Some of them may even feel losing the coin on their passing is better than gifting it to a wrong family member that will spend it recklessly, but I do not support this and I think It'd be better to donate it to charity instead of losing it.

What I don't do is to hide my details from my family most especially my spouse, this is because when I am not around she could act on my behalf I'm the sense that there could exchange some of my assets to sort out some few needs, this is very important even if it not in case of deaths we still have some other life activities that could put us away from our phones and wallet and at that time only family can access those assets.


I may not leave the access as an enheritance, bit as my own savings, since I can use other physical properties to share as assets, my bitcoin will be for me and my spouse, so only the both of us will have access to the wallet.

Everyone has different views on this, I appreciate your opinion on how to deal with this in saving your assets before death comes by giving your phrase information and donating it to a charity of your choice. Even if you give your phrase in advance before death comes to a charity the potential for misuse is much higher than if we give the phrase to our own siblings.

During our lifetime we do not find anyone who can be trusted, for example our own blood relatives if we do not trust them I think it is the biggest mistake in their lives. Blood relatives have a close bond with us, unlike outside blood relatives. I think it is better for this to fall into the hands of our own siblings, in this case before death comes we can teach them slowly, if our siblings understand about bitcoin they can continue from what we had before. That is much more beneficial and we are much more sincere and calm falling into the right hands.

First of all, i am sorry to hear about your friend's passing.

Honestly when i saw your story, i realized that time is really short, we don't know for sure what will happen in the future, thinking we will have a long life due to our young age.

On topic, when we already have Bitcoin with a value that we feel is quite large, it is smart to at least think of the best way to make sure people we trust know that we have some assets. We can start training them from now on, just teaching them the basics of how to access the wallet ^[1] how to sell it ^[2] where to sell it ^[3] as well as hinting at the location of the seed phrase that we have^[4], so that when it really happens, at least the hard work so far has not been wasted.

Condolence to the loss of your friend,

That been said, we are not to live as those that were without hope, because we can't tie ourself to living in fear of what tomorrow maybe, though this does not also affects our decision for planning against tomorrow, we should at least have a confidant in which we are used to, trusted and have confidence with base on our years of mutual relationship together, if what we are doing is not illegal, then we should be proud of it and be able to carry others along in knowing what we do and also understand why we do them, then we can choose between our wife, children or siblings we trust more to have some of our secrets with, while we can learn on how we can pass our inheritance after we left and have plans on that too.

Unfortunately it's very hard to make plans for such thing if you want to avoid other people to know you are self storing cryptos at home. If you reveal plans about that, they will guess you're holding large amounts in addition. So you need to find solutions allowing to not tell to anyone or only to very few trustworthy people at most, what are your plans for your crypto legacy after your death.

No one knows when someone will die and no one can predict. So as a Bitcoin investor, everyone should keep their family informed about these things and hide the private key of their wallet in a secret place so that after you die, your future generations can find it and access your Bitcoins and enjoy them. Because since Bitcoin depends on a private key, there will be no other way to access that wall except that key. And Bitcoin will be a very valuable asset in the future. It is already very valuable, but in the future it will be much more expensive. So it will never be admirable to lose your investments completely. The purpose of building your wealth is to live comfortably for yourself as well as leave something for future generations. So of course, you need to keep your private keys in a place so that after you die, your future generations can find them and access them.

Sad news, sorry for the loss.

This is an important phase in your Bitcoin investment journey to actually get to know who you will turn your investment to if actually life decides to come knocking at your door. Some person are usually scared of show casing their asset holding thinking of the risk involved but it's the right thing if you have someone trustworthy or even reason for saving it in the first place because I believe the purpose of having such asset is to make life easy and also for the love ones around you.

Our Bitcoin accumulation  getting lost when we die of sudden; is it what will raise concerns? Many people lose their properties that weigh billions of dollars, and life still goes on without holding on a bit.

If peradventure we didn't tell anyone about our Bitcoin accumulation before we die, life goes on, and our families will survive on their own without our wealth. We were born into the earth empty-handed, and we are leaving the earth with nothing. I don't bother myself with the wealth to accumulate on earth because they will all be vanity when we are no more. The living will squander the wealth we suffer to build over the years for our good. Why are we bothered about them when they can survive without our wealth(us) existing.

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. I guess that all of us have this close friend or relative that we've just lost whom is dear to us. The importance of making a plan if ever we die suddenly and will leave our crypto holdings to our family. It is about time to teach them and how to get involved on holding Bitcoin. For the most of us, we can easily teach them and they'll have no complain since this is money. We have to tell them straightly that this is for their own sake if ever we pass and the calling that's done to us suddenly has come.

It’s useless to invest without prior planning first. That should never be overlooked. Investing comes with present and future plans, not just on how to secure your profits, but on how to secure yourself and your loved ones as well especially when sudden circumstances occur. Otherwise, the fruit of your investment will just go wasted, and more likely it would end up others benefiting it.

While death is inevitable, but the future problems will be prevented. Know your plans and goals why you invested in the first place, and put them into action when your investment has paid off.

Losing a young friend really makes you think about life and death. When it comes to investing in Bitcoin, it’s important to plan what will happen to it if something happens suddenly. If you accumulate a large amount of crypto without leaving clear instructions or your private keys accessible, your Bitcoins could get lost. That’s why it’s essential to think about how to keep everything organized, who will take care of it and where the information is stored, so that you don’t leave anything behind. I just think that you should have someone you can trust in case something happens.

Death has never been fair to anyone, not to any family as well, it doesn’t give you the time to prepare, think, recollect and settle yourself on pending issues before you kick the bucket.
Now our days, we try to build generational wealth which is beautiful but then, it puts some of our investments at the mercy of others and our private key or seed phrase have come by a complicated handling.

Sorry for this loss, it’s a hard one to take really, especially at such a young age when everything was just being set up. You know, it doesn’t really matter if you indeed invested so long as you don’t have kids to take it over and you’re not there to enjoy it. It all comes down to you missing in it and that’s really sad.

As such in goring through life and investments, be sure you aren’t giving yourself so much discomfort for a life that isn’t promised.

There are several methods used for bitcoin inheritance or estate planning.

I suggest trying a few of them out by allocating small amounts of bitcoin to each method.
Then after a few months of practice and hands-on experience you can figure out which one works best for you.

After settling on one you feel very comfortable with, you can put more (or all) of your bitcoin into it.

One option is using a third-party provider to hold one of your keys.
Unchained Capital, Casa, Nunchuk, River, The Bitcoin Way are some who offer this service.
Some of these may have a monthly fee.

It's always good to let our family know about the seed phrase and what's in our posession.
Some people like to be discreet, that's definitely their right to do so but it'll help a lot of the asset can also be accessible for the family.

There have been many threads discussing whether we should share our bitcoin information with loved ones or plan for inheritance. But I find most people are quite selfish, they claim not to trust anyone, not even their parents who gave birth to them or their wives who will be with them for the rest of their lives. This shows that it is not that people do not think about this issue, but that they consider bitcoin more important than anything else in their lives. For them, bitcoin is everything so they would rather let bitcoin disappear with them than leave it to their loved ones.

As in previous discussions, I always advocate sharing our seed phrase/private key with our closest loved ones. Otherwise, it would be a waste if something unexpected happened to us, and those bitcoins disappeared with us.


By the way, OP, my condolences to your family.

If you lose your bitcoin private keys, you lose your bitcoin. If you passed away and noone inherited your bitcoin private keys, your bitcoins lost too. Loss here is access loss but bitcoin remains on the Bitcoin blockchain, in UTXOs and in Bitcoin total supply.

If you don't have inheritance plan, your bitcoin will be lost as same as around 4 millions of bitcoin were estimated lost forever and it will be considered as unofficial gift and donation to other Bitcoin holders.


Lost Bitcoin: 3.7 million Bitcoin are probably gone forever. (https://decrypt.co/37171/lost-bitcoin-3-7-million-bitcoin-are-probably-gone-forever)

Your uninherited lost bitcoins will become inactive and it will be recorded as inactive UTXOs and become more dormant with years like dormant UTXOs with ages of 7 years - 10 years+.
https://www.bitcoinmagazinepro.com/charts/hodl-waves/

I offer you my condolences. That's the reality of our existence here. It definitely ends. As to when, we can't even tell. Preparation is indeed important regardless of age.

My Bitcoin investment is small. My family is aware that I have invested some of my savings in Bitcoin. Some members in our family are familiar with it. I think they know that they have to look for my seed phrase in case I will go ahead of them. That's enough preparation for me I guess.

But more than this kind of preparation, I think we should also be enjoying the fruits of our labor and investment. Sometimes, all we think is to save. But for when? We are not even sure we are still here tomorrow.

I think I get your point op, even though you use death to advice people to write their seeds phrase down in case death occurs, it will be easy for their family members to gain access to their bitcoins but some people will not take sure advice from you, because they don't trust family members or friends, despite I am planning to hold bitcoin for long term, I don't think my mother or siblings will find it difficult to gain access to my bitcoin because there is no one can predict death.

Sorry for your friend loss or departure. It is painful to see how a youth of that age died untimely abandoning his goal or dream. But however what then can we do? Nothing.. because life is inevitable meaning that everyone must die someday. Although we have discussed this matter or issues of transferring our wealth to our heirs or next generation, but it seems no one is talking about it anymore but perhaps it is important we take this matter seriously once again. We often think that before we die we will inform our children or family about our asset on Bitcoin, but however we haven't made any attempt because we think we are still young not to talk about it. But who knows what happens next? Mr deaths may come unexpectedly as usuall, that is why we need to change the mentally of trying to get old a little bit before trying to inform our loved ones. Let this topic be a challenge and a motivation to make us do the needful before we suffer in vain . Because it will be bad we invest for 5-10 years and when deaths comes, your family member will have no access to your crypto wallet.

It is a lesson for us to prepare anything we need for our family. If you have Bitcoin and want to give Bitcoin as legacy to your family, then you should teach who you will give your Bitcoin. When your investment grow, you should think what you will to do with your Bitcoin investment.

You don't have to wait until you grow old because death can come anytime without we know. If we can prepare what it needs, they can continue what we did and it is better if we leave Bitcoin heritance to our family. You can write a letter of heritance and give to one or more about the explanation of using Bitcoin completely.

Death can come suddenly. So we can only do what we can do while we still alive. Let along what will happen later because we already prepare what we can.

Well that is a sad news. But we are losing people everyday, we should look for the future where things are better. Hope is what keeps us alive and kicking.

As far as investments go, the next of kin will inherit it, whether they have made preparations for the same when coming to non-traditional assets, is the question.

One thing to note here, do watch on your own health while keeping up with the bust life adding in risky investments. They take a toll on your well being too. You never know what problems people run into and how they are dealing with it.

Here are a few good quotes:

“Life is what happens when you are making plans.”

“It is not the goal, it is the journey that really matters.”

What do they mean?

They mean if you get obsessed too much with your financial goals, you’ll forget to live your life.

Let’s say your goal is to have a net worth of $1 million in 10 years… (The net worth goal and the time required are different for everyone)

You worked hard, did nothing else and achieved your goal. What have you actually achieved though? You just lived like a damn plant. You just got 10 years older. You forgot to make friends, you forgot to socialize.

That was the real price which you paid to acquire your wealth.

Really? Nobody would ever inherit my BTC when I die. This should be considered "a donation to the community" just like Satoshi once said.
Why are you so sure that most Bitcoin investors won't get to an old age and "enjoy their investment"? Is investing in Bitcoin/crypto unhealthy or something? Do you believe that most "crypto bros" are involved in toxic activities like drinking, doing drugs and gambling?
Life sucks and some people die young. This is a part of the game called "life". I hope that there's an afterlife, but I'm not sure (I'm not a very religious person). We just have to do our best in order to survive as long as possible on this planet.

We not having family or friends shouldn't stop us from passing down our wealth because there are charity organisations that need help financially hence passing your inheritance to them is a good gesture that'll do well for the people in need than to allow your money to waste as nobody gets access to it when you're gone. Planning is a good habit to have because it'll help you stay organised and avoid some unnecessary things like people fighting over your wealth and causing betrayal among family members. It'll also give you peace of mind that when you're gone, your estate will be distributed well among people you loved while you were on earth. Rest in peace to your friend, I hope you're drafting your own will soon too because telling us to make preparations while you aren't doing the same is wrong.

That's why an eternal hold is impossible. Also, I don't think your investments will help you much when you become. Yes, it will be a "safety cushion" for an emergency health improvement, but will you want to travel in old age, for example? Unlikely. Therefore, you should maintain a balance between simply accumulating and holding bitcoin, and current use and spending of bitcoin in the present moment.

Well, and don't forget about the case with your friend. The dead don't need bitcoin. Live in the present moment (partially spending btc), planning your future (partial accumulation of btc).

While investors are alive, they don't think about premature death. And when this moment comes, it is already too late to think about it. :) Your message is clear. While there is an opportunity, it is necessary to prepare a plan B just in case: to whom to bequeath bitcoin. Whereas plan A should consist of managing to use bitcoin for your own benefit as much as possible (it can also be for the benefit of family and relatives), so that less is left for plan B. Otherwise, what was the point of all these efforts to accumulate?

Sharing seed phrases or what we own with loved ones also carries certain risks because there is no guarantee that they will never touch them even without our permission. But I think that risk is acceptable and also worth it rather than not sharing it with anyone and letting it disappear with us like in OP's story.

I have witnessed the same thing as OP, I have seen many people I know suddenly pass away and leave a huge void in their family. So I thought a lot about this because I don't want my hard earned money to go to waste, and that's why I don't hesitate to share everything with my loved ones.

You can share the inheritance key ^{created by Liana}, which becomes automatically active after the specified period of inactivity of the primary key which itself remains active forever. This ensures you don't need to worry about they touch this key before the inactivity threshold has been reached. The key point here is to ensure that those you trust know how to use Liana wallet in case something unexpected happens to you.

I had similar experience. My friend cashed out and left all crypto markets. Soon after that he died. I thought it was via suicide as timing was so odd, but turned out it was a coincidence and he died from from a cardiac arrest.

I was happy that he got to use his money for his family while alive, but i checked some of his accounts, as i knew some his addresses. Turned out that those would have been eligible for more valuable airdrops.

I didn't know his family well, but i asked some of his friends to tell his family not to erase his hard drives, as those are valuable. I even offered my services to extract any crypto airdrops

I don't think anyone took me seriously as i haven't heard back from them, and i doubt they have skills to claim those airdrops. They either didn't trust me, or thought that it's some play money not worth looking. Some of those airdrops are already expired.

Personally i have my new crypto details in one safe place, and i am planning to send update via email to my kids. They are tech savvy with security, so it's secure, but i wouldn't trust them not losing usb stick or piece of paper, so this is defintely the safest way.

Investing into cryptocurrencies are always considered niche by some people. Even with its widespread reputation that emerge during the pandemic, a lot of people still are skeptical into investing into BTC. Due to this skepticism, there are others who chose not to learn and know about cryptocurrencies and their effects economically.

OP, what happened to your friend is really unfortunate. I also agree with you that we have to be prepared in the event that something unexpected happens to our investment and cryptocurrencies. For normal investments, as a general rule, these will be passed into the estate and therefore to the heirs. But for cryptocurrencies, there must be instructions on how to liquidate them especially to family members who do not know anything about it at all.

As early as now, we should actually pick our most trusted member or friend in which they will receive our BTCs in the event of an unexpected death. Instructions should be made on how they could access it as they will be the ones to use it in the future.

I'm sorry for your friend, it's really unfortunate to lose people in such young ages. As for what you've mentioned, holding eternally is impossible, and pointless, at some point, we'll have to sell. I've been holding and accumulating Bitcoin for approximately 4 years now, and I was thrilled to see my money more than triple in value within such a short time period. Although the $100,000 mark was a huge achievement, and it's a promising amount, I wouldn't just sell because life is simply unpredictable.

As other posters already mentioned, there are ways to prevent the loss of funds in case of death, by passing on the seed phrase or private key to a relative or a friend. On the other hand, if I'm dead, I couldn't care less about my coins, but on the other, I'd rather see someone I love using that money.

It's really obvious that death is inevitable, death doesn't have a specific people that will be call to glory, so both new born babies, young adults and adults can die at any time, as I said before that death is inevitable, if death knock at your door you most answer death even though you're Elon Musk or bill gate and Donald Trump, you most submit to death

For the investment perception, if you're into investment, you have to let your love one's such as your wife, children to know almost 85% of the investment, so that when you're no more this people will have access to your investment, even though it's a bitcoin investment, at least you're supposed to let your wife to know the seed phrase knowing that death is inevitable, any investment you're doing as a human and your loves one's doesn't know the secret of the investment, I may say that it's a wrong investment, indecencies that nobody knows the outcome of tomorrow

Some people deliberately keeps their investment on secret so that people will not hate them unnecessarily, but for me it's good for few people around you, especially your siblings and your offsprings to know about what you're doing, should incase of premature death can occur unexpectedly.

This should be a matter of urgency and not waiting till you’ve stack up some considerable amount of bitcoin. While working towards stacking that much, you can also have in place ready someone that can inherit from your bitcoin when you’re no more, I mean something like next of kin that’s banks usually do and make it mandatory while opening an account with them. While this is a crypto thing and requires all privacy to protect your funds when you’re alive, they could still be a clue or something that can tell how your next of kin can get to benefit from your investment when you’re no more. No one envisions to die now, but time waits for no one and we can’t tell when it’ll be the end for us. It is better to act quickly than to be sorry.

When speaking about a friend and first thoughts is seed or crypto.Typically these discussions are handled in private. This train of thought from a friend typically leads to a bad choice. . Your friend made a mistake by telling that friend. “Worthy enough” that’s a second red flag. Blood is blood it’s a have to. If you’re concerned about their choices it’s not our business. What we do for free is what matters most. We need to increase our focus on making this world a better place. It’s just me I would donate it all to a place they enjoyed. If he was in crypto. How about our developers? Maybe a local library. A shelter or a little research and see where it would have the greatest positive impact. Someone out there definitely needs it more than us. Good subject to touch on. Thank you.

I am sorry you lost your friend, he passed away at such a young age. It is normal for a person to have deep thoughts at such times.
No one knows when they will die, maybe you are investing in vain throughout your life. We can never know, so we should realize as much as possible, put aside investments and do something to live the life we ​​dream of.

Investments made after death have no meaning. Of course, it is important to support your family, we have to teach them this job

Sorry for your lost Rruchi man, you are right it is not only the old that die the young people die too, I have a close friend of mine he died when he was just 23 back then, it was a very sad day for me so I know what you must have gone through.
This is a lesson to me and to everyone I think we have friends we trust very well in our family you can tell them your password to your wallet however this is not safe as they can use through that means of having access into your account to withdraw all your crypto coin and then run away, I know someone that he brother went to his phone open his wallet input his brother password to his wallet and withdraw everything so please if we are to give any of our family members our wallet we should give it to someone that is very discipline and that has a fear of God in him or you can decide to go to a lawyer and write it as part of your will, I think this way will be much better.

Death is never predictable so it is better to know what to invest in and leave it to the kin in a manner that they will recover the money before they lose it.

But truly witnessing a death is a tearful experience and I think every bitcoin investor should take this seriously to set up some method so that their known people get acceas to their bitcoin.

Even then some might consider not giving their coins, which I dont see as a problem to be.

Not everyone has the same situation. Some people might not have some close friends or family which they trust and is worth it to leave their belongings if they die. There are even some that would wish you bad things if they know that they will benefit once you died. I don't know if someone will believe me but there are people that will really wish you dead.

I'd rather choose my bitcoin lock in my wallet forever or donate it to a charity when I die.

That’s a very real perspective. Not every person can find persons whom he/she can trust in something as important as the bitcoin, and sometimes even close people or relatives can have bad intentions. No wonder that a person would prefer to retain the control over his coins even when he is dead or rather allocate them to some good cause in which he believes. Leaving your assets to family and friends that do not even deserve it or on contrary, even want to do you harm sounds bad. It all comes down to personal preference, and it is every person who ultimately decides what he/she found to be the safest and the most value-adding.

Money shouldn't be held forever or just accumulated until you reach an old age. Money exists and it's here to serve us, not the opposite. At same time, we have to take into consideration each person has different needs and goals. Some will need less, while others will need more funds to meet their objectives. And in my opinion, it's better to die trying, than not trying at all...

What happened to your friend was very unfortunate and unexpected, so it's different from a situation of an elder individual who has been saving money for decades without any goals and purposes in mind. Maybe your friend had plans and was trying to make them come true. If that is the case, he did what he could have done with the time available for him on this world, therefore, there is nothing to regret or lament about it.

It's a different story for someone who owns Bitcoins and have plans of holding forever. It's totally okay if someone has that plan to hold forever but that means long term and not literally forever. A point will come at a time that they'll start selling when they're at the peak of their satisfaction and that's very normal. We hold for a better future and to enjoy it, not for the others to just enjoy it. Well, no problem if they are from us, children, wife/husband, parents and immediate family members. But just remember, we're here to live that moment and from being patient for a very long time, you deserve to treat yourself and spend them somehow but not everything.

Since I really focused on building investment, I never forget to make a inheritance plan. I have prepared it in detail where only certain people can access the storage wallet, of course they are my trusted people. This does not only apply to specific investments such as bitcoin, but also to other investments that you have and it is important to make plans especially for inheritance.

It depends on what you are planning. If your investment plan is to have a pension fund, inheritance, or financial independence in old age, then you need to consider not selling it now. You can certainly sell some of your assets when it is profitable and you enjoy it, but the investment you plan for old age still needs to be maintained.

It’s a very sensitive topic and consideration I must say, given the fact that one don’t get to see themselves at the mercy of death when they are still have age on their side. It doesn’t matter how much you have in your possession most of all, death doesn’t come to mind and when it has to do with Bitcoin with how private/secure you should keep it, it’s always difficult to try and maintain protocol while staying private. When it’s necessary though, it’s wise to consider it but, it’s an individual opinion.

In the future, people will definitely hold Bitcoin for that, just like when you open a bank account, you must have a nominee because if the owner of the first bank account dies, his nominee or the second person will own that account. In the same way, in the case of Bitcoin holding, the family should be informed, maybe the father is holding Bitcoin for his future and to protect the future of the child, he is holding this Bitcoin. Of course, the wallet password should be left with trusted members of his family, so that if the father or Bitcoin holder dies, his family members can retrieve his Bitcoin.
Or if a young man is holding Bitcoin, then his father or any member of his family should be informed about this and the private should be left with him. The private can keep two to three copies of it on paper, it is better for the Bitcoin holder to keep this private only with him.  Then the chances of losing Bitcoin holdings are very low because people's death is very close.

None of us here ever know how long we will live, we can also learn from what happened to Diogo Jota. Bitcoin investors need to consider as soon as possible choosing an heir to manage their assets if something happens to them.
Bitcoin has no physical form and no one knows you own it (unless you tell someone), so it is important to create an estate plan as soon as possible in case something happens to it suddenly. There are some cases that have been very tragic due to being late in anticipation of the worst thing happens suddenly, hopefully that doesn't happen to us.

When it comes to this i've come to learn that steel plate seed phrase is enough, just disclose the location to your family and you're set. no complicated thing or anything like that.

Just consider it part of our belonging when we're still alive much like our phones. Other option like multi sig, custody, etc just feels like a burden.

This may not be enough. Either your "heirs" will not be able to restore access to the wallet without knowing how to use the seed phrase, or they will allow this information to "leak" into the network \ hackers \ strangers. That is, it is necessary to leave precise instructions on how to properly use the seed phrase.

I think it would be right to leave in addition to the seed phrase the hardware wallet, which is easy to use, but at the same time doesn'tt allow the seed phrases to "leak" into the wrong hands. Hardware wallet is a kind of foolproof protection. That is, HW device + seed phrase as a backup.

This is very sad to read and it remind me again about Diego Jota who passed away this week too at a younger age. No one can tell when death will visit them and this sometime leave us in confusion as to whether to disclose our assets to a trusted person or not. What if you disclosed it earlier and you're yet to die but later get betrayed?

Ideally, one is suppose to enjoy the fruit of their investment before they die because there's no point making investment without having a test of your several years of patience unless untimely death happens. I will suggest to keep your keys in a place reachable after your death to avoid complete loss of asset. If one can not enjoy it due to untimely death, at least the families should be able to enjoy it.

Like you rightly said, no one is expecting to die young or when not ready but date is out fate and there is nothing we can do about it. I have read many threads where this issue of transfer of Bitcoin to next of kin have been discussed but there seem not to be a generally accepted approach as so many reasons have been sited by the pros and cons of some of the popular methods suggested. To make it easier, one can simply keep the people that will inherit the Bitcoin on the know while we are alive so that they can be part of the process, provided we have some level of trust in them that they will use the money wisely and for the purposed you save them for.