What happens with my crypto when I die?

[runCRYPTOrun]

Silly question right?
Unless there is a backup method or heritage system it obviously vanishes for eternity, but the point was to discover methods that you are aware for avoiding such risks.

Well, it's not a risk, it's a certainty, but there are other risks of losing access to the crypto account aswell.
Some like:
* death... obviously
* house burns down along with hard wallet
* one can accidently loose his cold storage or hard wallet
* maybe other you figure out and I add them

So, what storage do you use to ensure your savings, or what do you think would be the best solution to overcome these risks?


UPDATE: I started this discusion because I can't see a decentralized solution for that, most of the centralized ones are largely known (wills at lawyers, online wallets and so on) but do not meet the security criteria as still imply a trusted party. Better simply handover the private key directly to the inheritant IMO.

What I want to determine is if it IS realy a concern for the comunity or not, and if yes than we can contribute all together to the creation of such a product. But again I realy do think it should be built decentralized and trustless.

UPDATE 2: What do you think of a smart wallet that can release the money to a specified address (inheritant) if the primary owner does not log in for 1 year?

[Snipes19811]

Because you are your own bank then you have to put in a provision that in the event of any of the above ,then you have a way to recover your funds.
Death - if is a significant amount then you can always make a back up with a will and a solicitor will execute your wishes .
Fire - keep a back up some other place than your house
Loss - again you can make backups

[mk4]

When you die without a contingency plan, then you're screwed!

I've read about a Medium article about a year ago about a solution for this. Is it a good solution though? You decide. I'll edit my post with the link after I find it.

EDIT: Here it is: https://medium.com/@pamelawjd/letter-to-loved-ones-a-template-for-your-crypto-estate-planning-4ee0975434e4

[okour999]

maybe there's nothing to do and if some years have passed the price of your hold is great, but it's best to put all your wallet info just as soon as your family finds it or you can tell them if you go procedure how to make money for not being able to work

[Krabat]

There is a project that allows you to make a will and dispose of your crypto-currency assets. This is based on smart contracts. Smart contracts control the fulfillment of your will. So at the moment it's not a problem.

[Dluretic]

I want to put your hardware wallet safe to your family, so is a good way, if you suddenly died, so your family can be extracted by your hardware wallet to go out of your digital currency assets.

[acha1217]

I think you can using online wallet for it, because people who you give your private/secret data like email address, password and private key of you wallet can access it.
By this way don't worry if you lost your hardware wallet and maybe got accident (I hope no and I hope you always health with your family). You can give your private/secret data like I say before to the people which you really really trust and rely on. You can tell him the reason why you do that, like want to bequeath to your children when you get accident, or some another problem .
But you should be smart to choose people, thank you

[Gamebitcoin]

Bitcoins are a virtual form of money protected by unbreakable cryptography. This attribute makes it a secure way to store wealth but also creates the risk that when Bitcoin owners die, their digital fortune will be out of reach forever.

Bitcoins are stored in a virtual wallet. Each wallet uses a string of random characters called a “public key,” visible to anyone, as an address for sending and receiving the cryptocurrency. A separate “private key” allows the owner access to the wallet’s contents.


If a Bitcoin owner dies without passing on the private key, his heirs may discover his wallet only to realize that they will never gain access to the wealth inside. To prevent this, the owner simply has to ensure that someone gets a copy of the private key by writing it down, storing it on a flash memory drive, or entrusting it with a commercial service that manages them.

[runCRYPTOrun]

Since crypto enables us to have trustless relationships (and that IS a key feature of cryptocurrency) I think it's not a good idea to hand over your private key to some third party (lawyer). It is a solution but it is an old fashioned one and the security of that is doubdtfull.

There is a project that allows you to make a will and dispose of your crypto-currency assets. This is based on smart contracts. Smart contracts control the fulfillment of your will. So at the moment it's not a problem.

Do you have a link to that project?

As it sounds to be done in a decentralized fashion it could be interesting.

[bug.lady]

Silly question right?
Unless there is a backup method or heritage system it obviously vanishes for eternity, but the point was to discover methods that you are aware for avoiding such risks.

Well, it's not a risk, it's a certainty, but there are other risks of losing access to the crypto account aswell.
Some like:
* death... obviously
* house burns down along with hard wallet
* one can accidently loose his cold storage or hard wallet
* maybe other you figure out and I add them

So, what storage do you use to ensure your savings, or what do you think would be the best solution to overcome these risks?

I encurage everybody to engrave their secret in steel or copper. It will survive a house fire and it is not so easy to lose as a piece of paper. On the other hand, the secret should be divided into two separate pieces stored in two secret locations (with your family members knowing exactly where) in case one is stolen.

[arakate93]

Because you are your own bank then you have to put in a provision that in the event of any of the above ,then you have a way to recover your funds.
Death - if is a significant amount then you can always make a back up with a will and a solicitor will execute your wishes .
Fire - keep a back up some other place than your house
Loss - again you can make backups

I agree with this opinion, if you do have a large amount of value in the world crypto, you should make a backup, and keep it all in a safe place, better if you have a lawyer and you just set it all as you wish if one day things you do not want to happen, like death may be, so your lawyer will then give you all your account data to who is entitled to receive it, just like your family.
this is just my opinion

[runCRYPTOrun]

I encurage everybody to engrave their secret in steel or copper. It will survive a house fire and it is not so easy to lose as a piece of paper. On the other hand, the secret should be divided into two separate pieces stored in two secret locations (with your family members knowing exactly where) in case one is stolen.

I think you meant 2 sets of keys divided into 2 pieces each (4 pieces total) can protect you against theft of 1 piece.

It does seem as quite reliable, but there is the posibility of a trusted party using the coins without youre agreement, like before you loose access to youre account. Might be a problem in many cases.

This whole proces implies a lot of trust factor so I think that trust factor is the one that should be minimized or idealy deleted from the equation.



I updated the first post according to your responses.

[sergeykravcov177]

He remembers the futurama as the frost was defrosted and saw his bank account what accumulations he had received after so many years. Pass your heirloom to your son and he will learn it on the 18th anniversary and see how his capital has grown. Unless, of course, bitcoin does not die.

[PottoBit]

nice topic; at least right now there are a lot of transaction who were lost maybe either for a basic error like wrong typing an adress of a wallet. Is really hard to find a decentralized solution for solve these problems, but i'm pretty sure there are some dev who works on it

[bug.lady]

I encurage everybody to engrave their secret in steel or copper. It will survive a house fire and it is not so easy to lose as a piece of paper. On the other hand, the secret should be divided into two separate pieces stored in two secret locations (with your family members knowing exactly where) in case one is stolen.

I think you meant 2 sets of keys divided into 2 pieces each (4 pieces total) can protect you against theft of 1 piece.

It does seem as quite reliable, but there is the posibility of a trusted party using the coins without youre agreement, like before you loose access to youre account. Might be a problem in many cases.

This whole proces implies a lot of trust factor so I think that trust factor is the one that should be minimized or idealy deleted from the equation.



I updated the first post according to your responses.

thanks, yes in principle I thought about 4 pieces total. But look, if the secret you want to safeguard is a backup wordlist for your hardware wallet, then it is perfectly enough to have it divided into 2 pieces of steel with engraved information and have a working hardware wallet device as pieces number 3 and 4.

And you are absolutely right about the trust factor. But again, you could store one of the pieces in a safe and have a code for your safe deposited with your will in a sealed envelope with your lawyer. That way, neither your family nor the lawyer has all the info required.

Options are unlimited. The important thing is to have it thought-over really well and make sure, that your family is aware about your scheme.

[Dudeperfect]

The best way I know is to explain family members about Bitcoin and giving them a basic idea of what Bitcoin is all about and how Bitcoin transaction works. If you have high amount of Bitcoins then you can prepare a legal will and distribute your Bitcoins to your family members in  a legal way to avoid any disputes. Maintaining multiple backup copies is always recommended.

[Odora]

if you die, your cryptocurrency will die with you too 
this is what causes us to have heirs of our cryptocurrency assets 

[perova93]

If after your death you have a sum of money, then of course they will remain in your wallet unless an apocalypse occurs.

[daydreamer_]

Silly question right?
Unless there is a backup method or heritage system it obviously vanishes for eternity, but the point was to discover methods that you are aware for avoiding such risks.

Well, it's not a risk, it's a certainty, but there are other risks of losing access to the crypto account aswell.
Some like:
* death... obviously
* house burns down along with hard wallet
* one can accidently loose his cold storage or hard wallet
* maybe other you figure out and I add them

So, what storage do you use to ensure your savings, or what do you think would be the best solution to overcome these risks?


UPDATE: I started this discusion because I can't see a decentralized solution for that, most of the centralized ones are largely known (wills at layers, online wallets and so on) but do not meet the security criteria as still imply a trusted party. Better simply handover the private key directly to the inheritant IMO.

What I want to determine is if it IS realy a concern for the comunity or not, and if yes than we can contribute all together to the creation of a such product. But again I realy do think it should be built decentralized and trustless.

That always ruin my head,thinking about my assets when i die. That why i backed up my account detail on safe place,and tell my family or girlfriend to remember itu. Not really safe,but i try what i can

[Sevarchik]

Your bring your coins with you if you do not leave your private keys to some one open or in question mode how mosaic