What happens if we die?

[yoseph]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

I think that's very great question and i believe measures should be in place where in the likely demise of one, family members will be able to have access to the bitcoins in one's wallet since it will be lost forever acrruing profits whereas no one knows about its existence and being unable to retrieve them.

[LuckyBtc]

Can't you just leave the retrieval key code in safety deposit box/ entrusted with lawyer via will?

Yeah, One can do that and I probably will do that.
If you hold Bitcoins and don't share your private keys with your beloved ones before then the part of Bitcoins dies with you and making Bitcoin supply even less. 

[friends1980]

Yeah, no need to explain everything to your family, they can find their way in the internet or with an experienced person - should you die. Only make sure they know you have altcoins.

Might be interesting to some people to avoid succession taxes... 

[pitiflin]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

Possible. You might lose everything that you had earned with so much hard work and effort, if your parents don't know how to use your Bitcoin and maybe its dumped in some random place then no matter what happens you can't do anything, cause you are dead(no offense).  But then if you have a spouse or children you can tell them about your Bitcoin ,because most of the kids of this and the next generation know how to use modern technology. But if you don't you can teach your parents/siblings as well.

[northstarh]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

I'm too young to think about this, however, if I really die for one of your ears, all my bitcoins will be lost, no one can find it, because my relatives do not know. About bitcoin, everything is secret.

[Shinpako09]

It will be gone forever since they don't have the private key to retrieve your coins. But it is common that if you feel your remaining days is coming you would entrusted it to someone close to you(probably relatives). Coz if you didn't do it, all of your hard work to earn/get that coin will become useless.

[spain cool]

If I die there must be a family that takes care of and gets my bitcoin account. Because in my family I'm not the only one doing bitcoin. My family and I are a team that does bitcoin. We work together to get bitcoin.

[lqkfamily]

my wife has my private key and wallet back up... lol

[Gaff]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

I'm too young to think about this, however, if I really die for one of your ears, all my bitcoins will be lost, no one can find it, because my relatives do not know. About bitcoin, everything is secret.

In that case, since I have a brother who's knowlegable about bitcoin,  I let him know first about my private access and if ever that I will die, he knows already what to do. Since that is my way of supporting my parents, I know he will grant whatever is left in my bitcoin and for the purpose of giving it to my parents. Of course he needs to convert it into our local currency. Then in that case it would still be meaningful whenever I'm gone for good. This question is really serious though. Yes, it's too young to think about this matter but the really still prevail. We can't predict death and that's our worst enemy.

[kynaz]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

I'm too young to think about this, however, if I really die for one of your ears, all my bitcoins will be lost, no one can find it, because my relatives do not know. About bitcoin, everything is secret.

In that case, since I have a brother who's knowlegable about bitcoin,  I let him know first about my private access and if ever that I will die, he knows already what to do. Since that is my way of supporting my parents, I know he will grant whatever is left in my bitcoin and for the purpose of giving it to my parents. Of course he needs to convert it into our local currency. Then in that case it would still be meaningful whenever I'm gone for good. This question is really serious though. Yes, it's too young to think about this matter but the really still prevail. We can't predict death and that's our worst enemy.

I agree with you, if we have a lot of assets in the cryptocurrency world then it is better to find a relative who knows a bit about Bitcoin, we have to teach them all about Bitcoin, The account is of real value because if we do not make the future your family will have nothing

[anhhung409]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

When you die, you will lose everything if your family does not find the wallet key or do not understand what it is. So you should look for a lawyer or a trusted person to give them all your property when you die

[Jody.Drummer]

This question that makes me have to answer it, chances are if I do not exist anymore in the world then I have entrusted this science to my family and my life companion and I explained that here we can get such amazing results and we work together to get bitcoin until Now i want them all to be smarter in finding bitcoin value

[chloemar]

before having died, I will teach to my younger brother and give Bitcoin account and Bitcoin wallet to him. He is a person I believe and cherish best. the aim I use Bitcoin to hope that he can receive the best education and when he grow up, he can raise my parent. I believe he can use my account wisely

[senin]

Everyone in my family knows I own bitcoins. If I die, they won't be throwing out any of my paper wallets until they've figured out how to either convert them to cash or get them into their own address. Do people close to you really not know that you own bitcoins!?

In case of death, relatives or simply trusted persons should know not only about the existence of records with private keys, but also know how to use them to exchange or cash the crypto currency. This will protect them already from unscrupulous people, to whom they can turn for help in this matter.

[s31joemhar]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

if this happen and no one in your family know how to use bitcoin or handle your bitcoin this is not good to you
because you wasting your time to find or earn bitcoins then keep it to have alot of it
then no one in your family cant use your bitcoins

[Rinder]

Taking this into consideration my wife has a book with all my keys to recover and acess my wallets, even with a low ammount of coins she knows where are my coins, the thing is if we both die, my childs are very young yet, even knowing parent does know about my coins, im not sure if he will be honest using those money for the childs.

[Russelmain]

Everyone in my family knows I own bitcoins. If I die, they won't be throwing out any of my paper wallets until they've figured out how to either convert them to cash or get them into their own address. Do people close to you really not know that you own bitcoins!?

In case of death, relatives or simply trusted persons should know not only about the existence of records with private keys, but also know how to use them to exchange or cash the crypto currency. This will protect them already from unscrupulous people, to whom they can turn for help in this matter.

It is also necessary to have the brains themselves, in order to initially prevent problems and teach relatives how to use the crypto currency itself.

[Giebaymax]

Before I die I will pass on this knowledge to my brothers and my family and even until now I guide them to learn in bitcoin world so when I have no at least I have given knowledge about experience in bitcoin world .. do not abstinence if you want to get Something big because it all starts from our hard work, believe me the results are not lies 

[GoodLuck2]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

I think that's very great question and i believe measures should be in place where in the likely demise of one, family members will be able to have access to the bitcoins in one's wallet since it will be lost forever acrruing profits whereas no one knows about its existence and being unable to retrieve them.

I was also wondering about this. Since bitcoins are digital currency and are secured with keys, it would be almost impossible for our family to access them after we passed away. I think we should keep one person in confidence and tell him/her about your assets including bitcoins. Share with them where you keeping all the keys written. It is wise to keep a written record of such things.

[The_Dark_Knight]

Nope, this is no existential question (although...). Everybody's talking about "When will Bitcoin die", but what if you die, and your family don't find your key, or don't understand it, or think it's only a useless sheet of paper with some code on it, or simply throw it away... Does this mean the currency's gone forever?

I find the possibility of this event rather realistic (yup I don't believe in eternal life), so that means that someday there might be 21M BTC but only 18M (and counting down...) is left in the market?

If you die and no one has access to your private key then those coins are most likely lost, there is a chance someone receives the same address, something known as address collision, but the possibility of that is minuscule, that is why we need to take precaution in the case of our deaths.