If You Die Tomorrow, Who Gets Your Bitcoin?

[Sonia_123]

Most Nigerians are used to passing down land, houses, or even businesses to their children as a form of inheritance. But Bitcoin has changed the way many of us save and store value. One question that doesn’t get talked about enough is this: if something happens to you tomorrow, how will your family access your Bitcoin?

Unlike a bank account where next-of-kin can be contacted, Bitcoin depends fully on whether your loved ones know your private keys, seed phrase, or wallet details. Some people don’t want to share their keys for security reasons, but at the same time, keeping it secret could mean their family never benefits from their hard work.

So how are Nigerians handling this? Do you trust your spouse, siblings, or children with your private keys now? Or do you have a system in place for them to access your Bitcoin later? Is there even a safe way to do this in our environment where scams and mistrust are common?

I’d like to hear different views, what’s your personal plan for Bitcoin inheritance in Nigeria?

The best thing to do in situation like this is to teach those close around you about bitcoin and make them independent, so that they can earn and understand bitcoin fully before you get to that time so that your relatives will be aware of bitcoin and it's worth just like our traditional currency, so that when the will is been read after your demise they will have full understanding of what you are talking about, because it will be very bad if your labour will be in vain after all these years of struggling and investing in bitcoin.

When your bitcoin wallet address/password is being written down and your asset worth in your Will they will understand it and know how to go about it because they are not novice to bitcoin, and they now know what they stand to gain like the traditional banking aspect and other assets that you must have had and WILLED.

[Scarlett_23]

This question is extremely difficult to answer because we are discussing inheritance, but inheritance is for your family, not a single person, and if you know that you have children and a wife, then your Bitcoin should be handed over to your wife so that even if you pass away, she can handle the inheritance and do what is right about it. When it comes to bitcoin as an inheritance, you should not tell any of your children about it since it will be a problem in the end because the one who knows about it will always feel in control of it and can keep it to himself.

The reason I said your password, seed phrase, and everything else should be given to your wife is because she is your partner, and if you trust her, nothing will go wrong when you die. However, when it comes to inheritance, everyone will forget about your death and start fighting for your inheritance, so when you give your inheritance, make sure you give it to someone you believe will not cause problems in the end.

I find this matter very important. No person will agree to give his hard-earned Bitcoin to anyone else during his lifetime. If his property does not reach his heirs properly after his death, then his whole life's hardship will be in vain. Again, this is such a method that it is not safe to be bequeath it through a lawyer.

Therefore, the seed phrase should be stored with the most trustworthy person among your relatives. Along with this, you should also inform or teach your relatives about what Bitcoin is, how it works, that is, Bitcoin. Again, a person's inheritance can be more than one.

In that case, he will have to choose who will distribute your wealth properly among your children. This method seems right to me.

[MainIbem]

...

For this question you just asked now is very simple and i will answer you from my own point of view, as a father i will make sure bring up my children in Bitcoin world, so once have been able to archive all this by investing on my children and i know it preventualy I'm not there they have the knowledge about Bitcoin, so unknowning to them as a normal thing that every father does, i will definitely write my private keys on the will or on a revocable living trust to enable my children get access to my Bitcoin wallet, so i think even as we can not expose our keys to anyone, so the only option is through a revocable living trust.

This post really got me thinking cause death is inevitable and it's something that can happen at anytime sometimes without leaving any clue or signs, for instance I know of a man who travelled and returned back dead cause he had a car accident, imagine if such person had plans of including his private keys in his will someday and died before doing that, how will his kids get access to his assets in Bitcoin if he has any? Anyways your suggestion of revocable trust is a nice one and I'll urge everyone of us to do so or reveal where we stored or private keys to our most trusted family member incase of uncertainties like death.

[Pikiboy]

Bitcoin is a very sensitive place to make investment,in as much as is profitable,we should keep our security in place that our next generation or the third party could have access to it, but because of safety and scammers we have refused to make our password unknown to our family members either best friend,my plan if I successfully become one of the Richest Bitcoin investors today I would make sure one of my children has full knowledge and understanding of Bitcoin and how it takes to make such investment before i will trustfully release my access point to that particular children, now if I'm not that successful I will give the access keys to my spouse in cause of necessity.

[Iamgoat]

This post really got me thinking cause death is inevitable and it's something that can happen at anytime sometimes without leaving any clue or signs, for instance I know of a man who travelled and returned back dead cause he had a car accident, imagine if such person had plans of including his private keys in his will someday and died before doing that, how will his kids get access to his assets in Bitcoin if he has any? Anyways your suggestion of revocable trust is a nice one and I'll urge everyone of us to do so or reveal where we stored or private keys to our most trusted family member incase of uncertainties like death.

People do overlook what we can call digital inheritance especially when it comes to bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets. Unlike traditional banks which is easy to claim by the next of kins or when there is a solid proof attached to your relationship with the deceased, when it comes to bitcoin no one can recover your bitcoin if your private keys are lost. This is why it ie important to plan ahead. I think thr idea of using a revocable living trust or including the private keys in a properly structured will is smart but it must be done securely because you would not want just anyone having access while you are alive or even when you are dead. I will also say another good option is to keep a written backup of your seed phrase in a safe deposit box or use multiple signature wallets where your heirs can only access the funds after having multiple authorizations to it.

[Finebone]

The question is not simple at all. You said you will not expose the key to anyone but you will have it on your will, what will you do that you will not expose it to the lawyer in charge of your will?

This is a highly sensitive matter, and this has been discussed here before but I can't get the thread, but as for the topic of discussion.

First, as the case of land, house or any other of your asset, Bitcoin is also your asset, so it's a wise approach to discuss it with your lawyer, so as to pass it down to your offspring, because revealing it to anyone in your family automatically puts your own very existence at risk, since no one can be trusted.

Sometimes the only person you may disclose such information to might be careless with it which might makes you lose your asset or your life if the information gets to the wrong person.
So disclosing it only to your personal lawyer is the best solution.

[PhilosopherKing]

The question is not simple at all. You said you will not expose the key to anyone but you will have it on your will, what will you do that you will not expose it to the lawyer in charge of your will?

This is a highly sensitive matter, and this has been discussed here before but I can't get the thread, but as for the topic of discussion.

First, as the case of land, house or any other of your asset, Bitcoin is also your asset, so it's a wise approach to discuss it with your lawyer, so as to pass it down to your offspring, because revealing it to anyone in your family automatically puts your own very existence at risk, since no one can be trusted.

Sometimes the only person you may disclose such information to might be careless with it which might makes you lose your asset or your life if the information gets to the wrong person.
So disclosing it only to your personal lawyer is the best solution.

Disclose such information to a personal lawyer would also means that we would be telling him about our seedphrase and private keys since it is needed by family members to access the stored bitcoin if anything perchance happens to the person that is investing in btcoin. And when all this is done don't you think that it also puts the  investment in risk, because like you said no one can be trusted.

[Finebone]

This is a highly sensitive matter, and this has been discussed here before but I can't get the thread, but as for the topic of discussion.

First, as the case of land, house or any other of your asset, Bitcoin is also your asset, so it's a wise approach to discuss it with your lawyer, so as to pass it down to your offspring, because revealing it to anyone in your family automatically puts your own very existence at risk, since no one can be trusted.

Sometimes the only person you may disclose such information to might be careless with it which might makes you lose your asset or your life if the information gets to the wrong person.
So disclosing it only to your personal lawyer is the best solution.

Disclose such information to a personal lawyer would also means that we would be telling him about our seedphrase and private keys since it is needed by family members to access the stored bitcoin if anything perchance happens to the person that is investing in btcoin. And when all this is done don't you think that it also puts the  investment in risk, because like you said no one can be trusted.

No, it's not at risk because our lawyer is not just anyhow person or a random person you disclose such vital information to.
If our investment documents are not safe with them then why are they our personal lawyer?
Definitely you must real everything concerning your secret phase to him but it's much more better than exposing it to any member of your family, even your next of kin is dangerous, because not telling anyone at all shows that you are not ready to pass it to your offspring if anything happens to you.

[Qhunman]

This is a highly sensitive matter, and this has been discussed here before but I can't get the thread, but as for the topic of discussion.

First, as the case of land, house or any other of your asset, Bitcoin is also your asset, so it's a wise approach to discuss it with your lawyer, so as to pass it down to your offspring, because revealing it to anyone in your family automatically puts your own very existence at risk, since no one can be trusted.

Sometimes the only person you may disclose such information to might be careless with it which might makes you lose your asset or your life if the information gets to the wrong person.
So disclosing it only to your personal lawyer is the best solution.

Disclose such information to a personal lawyer would also means that we would be telling him about our seedphrase and private keys since it is needed by family members to access the stored bitcoin if anything perchance happens to the person that is investing in btcoin. And when all this is done don't you think that it also puts the  investment in risk, because like you said no one can be trusted.

No, it's not at risk because our lawyer is not just anyhow person or a random person you disclose such vital information to.
If our investment documents are not safe with them then why are they our personal lawyer?
Definitely you must real everything concerning your secret phase to him but it's much more better than exposing it to any member of your family, even your next of kin is dangerous, because not telling anyone at all shows that you are not ready to pass it to your offspring if anything happens to you.

Bro, Do not say your seed phrase isn't at risks . If you fall into the hands of a  bad lawyer,your seesphrase can be covet. In case you don't know, Lawyers can covet clients properties without the knowledge clients family or heir. So Drop the notion that because he is your personal lawyer, trusting him with your seed phrase is the smartest thing to do because While in your absent, you're lawyer can tamper with your bitcoin asset,alternate your will and nobody will ever finds out that he did.

[MainIbem]

No, it's not at risk because our lawyer is not just anyhow person or a random person you disclose such vital information to.
If our investment documents are not safe with them then why are they our personal lawyer?
Definitely you must real everything concerning your secret phase to him but it's much more better than exposing it to any member of your family, even your next of kin is dangerous, because not telling anyone at all shows that you are not ready to pass it to your offspring if anything happens to you.

Bro, Do not say your seed phrase isn't at risks . If you fall into the hands of a  bad lawyer,your seesphrase can be covet. In case you don't know, Lawyers can covet clients properties without the knowledge clients family or heir. So Drop the notion that because he is your personal lawyer, trusting him with your seed phrase is the smartest thing to do because While in your absent, you're lawyer can tamper with your bitcoin asset,alternate your will and nobody will ever finds out that he did.

You're very correct mate, nobody's to be trusted even though it's your personal lawyer, cause many lawyers out there are very dubious. Bitcoin is a digital asset and could easily be stolen if your seed phrase get into the hands of a dubious lawyer thereby leaving your next of kin with nothing. In my opinion I think I'll store my seed phrase in a safe then give hints of the code to the safe to my lawyer to pass it to my next of kin when I pass on, and the hint to the code would be something I and my next of kin only know about, with that the lawyer can't have access to the safe since he can't decode the hint.

[Bitcoin.com97]

To me there must be one trusted person in your life , it could be your wife, husband or children, but one person must be aware and trusted to know your private key in case anything happens, what is the need of securing a generational wealth without anyone having a clue of it , it’s waste of resources and time, in as much we
Must keep secret I believe their must be one trusted human you can rely on .

[Nasdel4]

For me, I think you will have to get a folder in your system or more preferably a system where you will save your seed phrases and other important information about your Bitcoin and maybe other businesses too and then in your will, you inform them about the system or folder and also make a video about it with the passcodes inclusive. Meanwhile, they can only access this folder or system when you're gone.

[Big Dirams]

To me there must be one trusted person in your life , it could be your wife, husband or children, but one person must be aware and trusted to know your private key in case anything happens, what is the need of securing a generational wealth without anyone having a clue of it , it’s waste of resources and time, in as much we
Must keep secret I believe their must be one trusted human you can rely on .

To be truthful the world is so mean and cruel now so it very hard and difficult to even have a trustworthy person that we might trust with our finance and assets. Well no matter how smart we are or how good we can be we must always have one persons that we can trust with our finances or other personals stuffs but we still need to be extra careful or even stay caution about the persons because we have seen so many news of how betrayal are done by our closed ones so we just need to be extra careful with people we trust with our asset or finance. But at the end part we should expect anything from anyone so we would not be so shocked when some certain things occur.

[Precious236]

For me, I think you will have to get a folder in your system or more preferably a system where you will save your seed phrases and other important information about your Bitcoin and maybe other businesses too and then in your will, you inform them about the system or folder and also make a video about it with the passcodes inclusive. Meanwhile, they can only access this folder or system when you're gone.

What if someone stumbles upon that folder and gets hold of your passphrase? Or better still what if your system gets hacked? It is never advisable for someone to store such a sensitive information like passphrase or password in a system, of course this has a high probability of being hacked. Again, what if the system gets corrupted let's assume it was hacked or no one stumbled upon it. Which means you have lost your passphrase which is the only access you have to your digital wealth.

The best way to store sensitive information like the passphrase or password still remains writing it down where only you or anyone else you want can have access to it. He who has your passphrase controls whatever assets is in it.

[Dannyella]

Most Nigerians are used to passing down land, houses, or even businesses to their children as a form of inheritance. But Bitcoin has changed the way many of us save and store value. One question that doesn’t get talked about enough is this: if something happens to you tomorrow, how will your family access your Bitcoin?

Unlike a bank account where next-of-kin can be contacted, Bitcoin depends fully on whether your loved ones know your private keys, seed phrase, or wallet details. Some people don’t want to share their keys for security reasons, but at the same time, keeping it secret could mean their family never benefits from their hard work.

So how are Nigerians handling this? Do you trust your spouse, siblings, or children with your private keys now? Or do you have a system in place for them to access your Bitcoin later? Is there even a safe way to do this in our environment where scams and mistrust are common?

I’d like to hear different views, what’s your personal plan for Bitcoin inheritance in Nigeria?

I think in most cases, seed phrases are often written down on a book or saved on the device as well as private keys. As this are important informations that secures funds and  require security.

So the idea of inheritance shouldn't be an issue as they are not physical asset but digital assets and does not require the concept of inheritance to pass it on as long as the family of the deceased has the knowledge of Bitcoin.

my own view on this topic is if one dies without proper planning, the person Bitcoin will be lost forever.cos Bitcoin is not like other traditional banks where they have customer service or 'forgot your password ' option.bitcoin is only stored in wallet guided by private keys
Only individual or family that have to your wallet can transfer the money with the Bitcoin .it al depends on personal decision, some people do not want their families or anyone around them to about their Bitcoin but others that want their families to benefit able to have access to their wallet need to have clear inheritance plan which could entail writing down your details and recovery statements securely making sure to keep them in a safe place.you can also use multi-signature wallet or crypto inheritance services to safely grant access after your death to offer close family or friends access to enjoy these benefits.