Securing Your Bitcoin with a Dead Man's Switch (In Case of Death)

[BlackHatCoiner]

If you really want to split up your secret like this, then you should use a Shamir's system or multi-sig system across multiple providers so there is redundancy in your system and one provider can't steal your coins, although they come with their own drawbacks as well.

Shamir's system is ten times better than Multi-sig. I consider multi-sig another, maybe not terrible but, idiotic solution. The fact that you also have to keep the master public keys electronically (probably in a cloud service) ruins your privacy and the third party is still required.

But, if I wanted to make my children inherit my money? Surely not Shamir's system. It's not practical neither safe to split phrases and gain control over the funds by having less than all of them. The inheritance is safe (& practical) only with locktime.

[o_e_l_e_o]

The fact that you also have to keep the master public keys electronically (probably in a cloud service) ruins your privacy and the third party is still required.

Well, not necessarily.

To recover your multi-sig wallet, you need the threshold number of private keys, and you need at least the public key from all the remaining shares, right? So, for example, in a 2-of-3 set up, I need at least 2 master private keys, and either the third master private key or master public key. So I can then make three back ups, as follows:

Back up 1 - xprv A, xpub B
Back up 2 - xprv B, xpub C
Back up 3 - xprv C, xpub A

Having any two of my three back ups provides me with two master private keys and the third master public key, but having only one of my back ups does not compromise my privacy since the attacker who found one back up only has keys from two out of the three shares. I also don't need to store the master public keys anywhere else, and certainly not on a cloud service.

[sheenshane]

Remember that anything in online third-party services providers is also prone to hack and we don't know they still running their system very well after how many years.  So, I don't think this is a good idea, it might a terrible idea.

I would prefer to use traditional methods to hand over my bitcoin key to my next generation, through a legal will and a reputed law farm. A reputed law farm is least likely to scam you with your legal documents and that's the traditional method. This way, you will be safe from hackers as well as any online third party providers like Google.

It's very simple and I tend to agree with this, hire a professional lawyer that will organize and legalize your will.  This is the safest method to inherit your Bitcoin when you will pass away and your other assets aside from Bitcoin.  But all of us have preferences, if they think using Google to keep your Bitcoin safe, it's up to them, they are lucky enough once they didn't being scammed or the service provider will not stop in the future when the inheritance will need it.  You must think first about the possible consequences.

[fiulpro]

I remember the time when we had probelms with Google regarding privacy on a big scale. They were even monitoring the incognito mode which is not something that should be done. At the same time everyone saves their passwords in google and at the same time they are suggested strong passwords too, google is much like a *safe* for the most people. When we are talking about *dead man's switch* it would not only be a necessity for some people but it would also be interesting for the family too.I feel we can use other options too. Like in Zebpay we have few options where we can state whosoever is going to get the power over our account on our demise. Therefore if you do not trust google. Find a good wallet! Or you can just put it in a nano x and lock it with specific informations which you can provide to a good and trustable lawyer.
Honestly I would love to have a last quest after my demise where my family would get the opportunity to search all the secrets and all the bitcoins. ^ ^

[speedy963]

This actually is quite a good idea, but not something I would do myself since I have already experienced being phished on a public wifi some time ago. Although not that big of a loss, it still frightened me a lot that made me buy myself a new laptop. Which is why I really am against trusting others even an ai with my private keys. Instead though, I might leave a message about the whereabouts of the place where I hid a manually written copy of my private keys. Better yet, leave the location details to a trusted person. Of course, the information that it is about where my private keys are will be kept as a secret. The information will be sealed very well and will only be accessible by the people that I want to have access to it. Like a multiple authentication thing or something like that.

[dimonstration]

As long as the email is not compromised as the clock counts down to activate the dead man's switch/ the send info to your next of keen, it's the best alternative we have to completely losing the stash of coins.

I know it's a risky channel to use in transferring our crypto assets but it's the less complicated methods have seen so far.

I do have some notes in my computer wherein they will be able too see that there crypto list and also includes the key or passwords but with additional codes or icons in it to avoid some hackers or if there are people nearby. I'd been too worried on not them knowing what I have and not being able to access it so we need to tell them what we are up to just make sure that they are trusted people if they knew it beforehand.

[Pmalek]

If I can't trust my family, my parents, and my kids with my secrets and my money, then I wouldn't want them inhering my bitcoin either. I think such arrangements should be made while you are alive and healthy without relying on a system or service to do it for you. Your next of kin and life partner should already know what is what while you are still around. That's how our parents did it with my siblings and me. Each one of us knows what they'll be inheriting one day. Just my two cents.   

[o_e_l_e_o]

It's very simple and I tend to agree with this, hire a professional lawyer that will organize and legalize your will.  This is the safest method to inherit your Bitcoin

It isn't. It is far safer than trusting Google with anything, sure, but it is not as safe as simply telling your heir where you have hidden your seed phrase if you can trust them not to rob you (although why are you leaving them anything if you can't trust them not to rob you?), or using the timelocked transaction method otherwise. Using a professional lawyer still requires trusting an unknown third party and still risks any number of people working for that third party being able to access your seed phrase.

They were even monitoring the incognito mode which is not something that should be done.

Incognito mode does literally nothing for your internet privacy. All it does is stop your browser from saving your browser history or search history on to your local device. It is designed to keep your activities private from other people using that computer - it does not keep your activities private from Google or any of the other entities which are monitoring you.

At the same time everyone saves their passwords in google and at the same time they are suggested strong passwords too, google is much like a *safe* for the most people.

People use Chrome to generate long and random passwords, and then back them all up to their Google account which is protected by a password like "sunshine". Completely pointless.

Or you can just put it in a nano x and lock it with specific informations which you can provide to a good and trustable lawyer.

I wouldn't trust a hardware wallet for this purpose. If you are looking at inheritance in 10, 25, 50 years, who's to say the hardware wallet will still be working after all that time?

[Karartma1]

I'm a super paranoid bitcoiner but three people on Earth in different geographies know how to safely restore my coins if something bad should happen to me. I don't see the point of allowing my btc to die with me, they need to extend their life after me.
I know we're all for the Don't trust, verify mantra but I trust these guys a lot. In fact, I know how to recover their keys in case they die as well.
Couldn't think of a better use case for death recovery 

[bitterguy28]

...

Notice I said may.

By inputting this information to Google's server, you are inherently trusting them with this information. If your Google account were to be compromised, that data could end up being compromised as well.

In this part? the trusting is badly in displace , compromising our google account are usually happens because of Google itself are not that trusted anymore.

I think i would rather tell my family about the funds and let them decide when time happens i died accidentally .

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

If I can't trust my family, my parents, and my kids with my secrets and my money, then I wouldn't want them inhering my bitcoin either. I think such arrangements should be made while you are alive and healthy without relying on a system or service to do it for you. Your next of kin and life partner should already know what is what while you are still around. That's how our parents did it with my siblings and me. Each one of us knows what they'll be inheriting one day. Just my two cents.   

Exactly, planning ahead but not close to being paranoid is the best thing to when you want those coins to continue circulating and having their purpose still being served and at the same time leave something behind for your family. To me, this kind of thing is a thing that needs a careful planning and execution because you don't want the people you will leave behind hanging high and dry expecting that they will have some inheritance.

[clorasteinberg]

What if this doesn’t work in the long run! The idea is mind blowing and I didn’t know if we could do anything of that sort but I don’t think I can rely on it. Maybe some other alternative would work.