Die testate with your Bitcoin. Death is inevitable

[Gozie51]

I guess not many people want to talk of death but we need to understand that it is inevitable to a living being including you. The word death is two edged sword, that is, it can touches the speaker and listener or reader. So desist from panicking at the instance of hearing death  Just do what you need to do


The word death on the thread topic may have sent shivers down some people's spine but don't allow your coins add up to the lost coins. You sure know that some wallets today have lots of bitcoin that are regarded as lost because of no activity or transactions on them for longtime, maybe due to lost passwords or death. You want that to happen to your hard earned coins ?

So if we don't want that kind of experience that when you are no more on the earth, the people behind and your loved ones can go on enjoying your labour dying testate is making a will lol.

I have simply been saying the need to make our will on beneficiary(ies) of our coins. Cryptocurrency isn't just a push over because it has come to stay like other commodities. The volumes and marketcap keep rising, showing adoption, acceptability.

Remember bitcoin didn't just become $62k today but grew from very small satoshi , and just that way many altcoins will become very big in our life time and after we are gone. Therefore, secure your coins, inform your next of kin about it. You can write a will and die testate with your coins 

[Oshosondy]

You are right, we need to have all ways possible to secure our coins in ways our hire can inherit it, some coins have been lost even before someone even pass away, all this needs to be addressed. We should make sure we secure our bitcoin into complete safety, teach or children all about bitcoin so that they will know ways to to recover the coins when someone is gone.

If not bothered for hire to know the value of bitcoin stored, multisig wallet is better, creating M of N wallet.

But some people may not like their hire to know about it, sharmir secret sharing will be better.

Also is a time locked ways of protecting the coin until the moment owner is unable to do usual things that will let the coins to remain in his wallet like per year, if such not done, then the coin will be release into a particular address.

But I prefer multisig or sharmir secret sharing. If the hires know what they are doing, they will be able to recover all the bitcoin back easily.

[Coyster]

I have simply been saying the need to make our will on beneficiary(ies) of our coins.

It's not just as easy as that, there are various risk concerns involved in Bitcoin, it's different from other forms of physical assets were you can just draw up a will and after your demise, with the help of a lawyer, your beneficiaries can claim what you left them, in the case of Bitcoin, for that to be possible, you must give up your seed phrase, which is pretty difficult to do, as just with a misuse or a careless act with that 12 or 24 seed phrase, your funds could be imported by another and lost for good.

Thus having said that, it's pretty difficult for people to disclose the 'key' to their wallets/crypto funds, except to one or two very trusted persons; ignorance is another reason why you don't get many people having beneficiaries to their funds, the one whom you can trust with your seed phrase may actually not be knowledgeable on the network, thus you run the risk of even losing your funds before you lose your life if they have access to your stash, that's why it's also pertinent to teach whoever you plan on making your crypto beneficiary one or two things about security on the network, so they don't lose the funds before or after you're even gone.

[DdmrDdmr]

If someone wants to read though people’s testimonials on what would happen in case of an abrupt fate, there are these two threads full of them:

What happens to my bitcoin if I die today?
Halloween inspired poll –would your Bitcoins get passed on if you suddenly died?

Many of us think that it’s all under control through one means or another, but the key exercise is to perform a simulated drill every now and then, emulating the scenario of turning dust to dust abruptly, and seeing if the intended plan is effectively drawn, understood and bears the confidence sign of it being carried out by the inheritors.

[o_e_l_e_o]

It's not just as easy as that, there are various risk concerns involved in Bitcoin, it's different from other forms of physical assets were you can just draw up a will and after your demise, with the help of a lawyer, your beneficiaries can claim what you left them, in the case of Bitcoin, for that to be possible, you must give up your seed phrase, which is pretty difficult to do, as just with a misuse or a careless act with that 12 or 24 seed phrase, your funds could be imported by another and lost for good.

If you are keen to have a lawyer or your will involved, then there are safe ways to do this. You can encrypt your seed phrase, give the encrypted seed phrase to your heir, and give the long and random decryption key to your lawyer to be revealed in your will when you die (or vice versa). You could set up a 2-of-2 multisig with one key in your will and the other key stored by a family member.

However, there are trustless ways to pass bitcoin in to your heirs, such as a timelocked transaction. I set it for a year in the future and give it to my heir. If I'm still alive in 11 months, I invalidate it by moving one of the inputs and then replace it with a new timelocked transaction.

[vintages]

However, there are trustless ways to pass bitcoin in to your heirs, such as a timelocked transaction. I set it for a year in the future and give it to my heir. If I'm still alive in 11 months, I invalidate it by moving one of the inputs and then replace it with a new timelocked transaction.

I feel this option is better than informing and giving the supposed heir the encrypted seed phrase when the bequeather is still alive. It's a safer option.
It's disappointing because sometimes people we trust can be greedy even when we least expect it. Money can trigger a lot of things in people.

[LTU_btc]

Yeah, death is inevitable... Sad, but true. I remember there was some similar topics in past already. I thought about it several times. Well, If I would die tomorrow, it's most likely that my Bitcoins would be lost forever. I'm still young and I'm not planning to die soon. But what if...? You know, everything can happen, car accident, plane crash, hearth attack and etc. So, I think it's worth to consider what will happen if such case. I don't want that my Bitcoins would be lost forever. It's significant amount of money which would help to my family member seriously.
Probably I'm not going to make things complicated. I keep most of my crypto in hardware wallet. So, I need to make instruction how to take coins from it and where they can find PIN code of it. But what if this information will appear in bad hands?

[Darker45]

Yeah, death is inevitable... Sad, but true. I remember there was some similar topics in past already. I thought about it several times. Well, If I would die tomorrow, it's most likely that my Bitcoins would be lost forever. I'm still young and I'm not planning to die soon. But what if...? You know, everything can happen, car accident, plane crash, hearth attack and etc. So, I think it's worth to consider what will happen if such case. I don't want that my Bitcoins would be lost forever. It's significant amount of money which would help to my family member seriously.
Probably I'm not going to make things complicated. I keep most of my crypto in hardware wallet. So, I need to make instruction how to take coins from it and where they can find PIN code of it. But what if this information will appear in bad hands?

You are not the only who's unprepared. I guess many of us are really unprepared. If I, too, would die tomorrow, most of my crypto funds might be lost forever. It is ironic to think that in our effort to protect our funds for the sake of our future, needs, family, and so on, we end up depriving them of it. We've got layers and layers of security to the point that, at times, even ourselves are deprived access to our various accounts.

I guess I'd just write down all my passwords, PINs, seeds, and the like on a piece of paper, make a few copies, and keep them somewhere hoping that if I leave them at the most unexpected time, they'd find it and make use of it.

[lovesmayfamilis]

It's disappointing because sometimes people we trust can be greedy even when we least expect it. Money can trigger a lot of things in people.

I feel sorry for those people who can talk about their loved ones in such a way that suddenly relatives and friends can become greedy and so on. I know that I myself will never do this, so why would I think badly about people who are dear to me? Mistrust is probably our problem. Honestly, I don't want to inherit from someone who once doubted me. . I read previous threads about what will happen to our coins in case of death. My opinion is that if there is that close person next to you, he should know where and how he can get your funds. Well, if there are no such people if there is no one to whom you can trust, why bother about it at all?

[ReiMomo]

I agree, death is inevitable and all of us will face the day. But it doesn’t mean your hard works when you were living will come to waste. You surely cannot bring your stuff when you die, but you can leave it to your next generation's genes and that’s already rewarding enough.

A firm with a very good reputation that can provide insurance using Bitcoin would be a very good idea. Not just that, if they can also provide services like being the security for your Bitcoins, that’s a bonus.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

If you want someone you love will get the fortune in bitcoin when you pass by, please make your preparation with information about private keys, mnemonic seeds for them. And links as well as basic guides to use bitcoin wallets, make transactions and basic trainings for that person.

The person is the one who won't steal your bitcoin when you are living. Your training is to help that person won't be scammed by the others after your dealth.

[vintages]

I feel sorry for those people who can talk about their loved ones in such a way that suddenly relatives and friends can become greedy and so on.

I'm just stating the possibility of it happening. In every hundred percent of families, about one percent of loved ones tend to have the possibility of this happening.

Most people Will their loved ones and family members their fortune not because they fully trust them, but because they won't feel completely fulfilled _{(even after death)} if they have funds locked away while their loved one suffers. And it is okay, since death is irrevocable, let the living make use of the money.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I feel this option is better than informing and giving the supposed heir the encrypted seed phrase when the bequeather is still alive. It's a safer option.

Well, it depends. I still have to have some way of passing on my time-locked transaction to my heir. I can simply give it to them, knowing that they won't be able to use it unless I die or are incapacitated and therefore are unable to invalidate it, but they can still look at the transaction and see how much bitcoin I am holding and on what addresses. Or I have to update my will every year with a new timelocked transactions which is time consuming and would cost a fee. There is the problem of me forgetting to invalidate it or not being able to access my wallets in time (in prison, in hospital, wallet lost/damaged/destroyed and I can't get to my back ups in time). You need to be entirely confident that the recipient of the timelocked transaction is not going to lose access to the address it is sending to. There is also the problem that I cannot spend any of the coins in that timelocked transaction without invalidating it, so my daily spending bitcoin is not included in the process. An encrypted seed phrase gives away nothing about your holdings, does not need your ongoing action to keep it safe, can be sent to any address once recovered, and can cover all the coins you hold including ones you are actively spending.

There are pros and cons to both approaches.

[BITCOIN4X]

It is true that death is a sure thing in life and we don't know when it will happen. Therefore, we must prepare ourselves well, including the issue of wealth.

I know that there are quite a few people who are busy keeping their fortune in bitcoin untouched by the people they care about. On the one hand, we are completely paranoid about self-security, security of wealth from bad people even by those who are actually our family, wive and children. Instead of keeping it untouched, I would be happier spending some of the wealth to be spend as long as I am alive and keep the rest as an inheritance after we die.

I don't want the wealth that I have had so far make me have to reduce my trust in my dear family. It's really unfair to me, and they should know how much money I have even though they can only get it after I die.

I don't blame anyone for the way they secure themselve, bitcoin and other asset while they are alive. But at least I just think that being too paranoid about self-security when we have a lot of wealth is not a happy thing. The family we care about should be a place for us to share and take refuge.

[khaled0111]

Being your own bank is a privilege but it comes with some responsibilities. Aside from securing your wallets, you should also think of a way to transfer your crypto wealth to your heirs after your death.
I believe many of us still remember the QuadricaCX case where customers lost their funds because of the sudden death of the said exchange's CEO.

This also makes me wonder what's the policy of centralized exchanges regarding this matter?

[mediaBuzz]

Think about a wallet similar to Electrum, but after a certain amount of time the decryption password of which would morph into a new password that is initially set when the wallet is created. You create a wallet and set two passwords, one actual pass and the second one is the one that your actual pass would morph into after a certain amount of inactivity time. You could set let's say, 5 years and confidently share (knowing that they won't work at the moment anyway) the second pass with your loved ones. 

[o_e_l_e_o]

This also makes me wonder what's the policy of centralized exchanges regarding this matter?

Not your keys, not your coins. If you are storing your coins on a centralized exchange, then you have absolutely no guarantee that any of your friends or family members will be able to access them after you die. They could very well just sit on your account until the exchange closes it through inactivity and takes the coins for themselves.

Some exchanges do have protocols for what happens in the event of a user's death. Coinbase, for example, request your heir to submit your death certificate, your will, and complete KYC themselves to prove they are the person named in the will. They have a page about it here: https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/managing-my-account/other/how-do-i-gain-access-to-a-deceased-family-members-coinbase-account. Binance seem to have a similar process based on this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/binance/comments/ikle2d/what_happens_when_account_owner_die/g3ll58w/. Many smaller exchanges will have no system in place, so whether or not your heir(s) can access your account is anyone's guess.

[pakhitheboss]

Few years back when I joined this forum there was a same topic whic explained the necessity of informing your near or dear ones about your cryptocurrency assets and how can they use them in case of your uncertain departure. I tried searching that topic but I couldn't.

It is important that everyone of us should also educate our dearest one on how to access and use those assets in time of emergency when we are not present in this world.

Thanks for again creating this topic as the pandemic is not yet over and we do need to remember life is uncertain. So always prepare yourself for the future.

[libert19]

Here in India, exchanges allow you to set nominee so if it were to do with me, I would send from whatever wallet to the exchange and let the next to me deal with it however they like. Requires less technical knowledge too.

[tranthidung]

• If you have a wife/ husband, you should leave details of your accounts on exchanges, private keys/ mnemonic seeds of your wallets to your loved ones.
• At least, you should write it down, and store it in a place that you believe your loved ones will find it when you unfortunately pass away.
• I have experience with it. I came to crypto in 2017 and I invited my friend to the market. About one month before his death, he asked me "What will happen if I pass away? Will my wife can get access to it (on exchange)?" I told him to write it down and let his wife know that he has important thing in that notebook. This help his wife to get access to his account on Poloniex, of course with my help because she did not know anything about cryptocurrency.
• Not your keys, not your coins [1]. It is best to use non-custodial wallets than exchange wallets
• Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts

[1] https://notyourkeys.org/