What Happens to One's Bitcoin if Death Occurs?

[Zlantann]

Nobody wants to die, but death is inevitable and sometimes unpredictable. I had a friend that was robbed and killed. His family couldn't have access to his Bitcoin account because nobody knew his password or even his email. It became extremely difficult because the armed robbers stole his laptop and phone. Currently his wife and son are suffering because he invested heavily on cryptocurrencies.

Data analyst believe that only one in four people share thier password with others. They also say that between 2.3 million and 3.7 million bitcoins amouting to over $15 to $24 billion have been lost due to disappearance of owners mainly caused by death.

Financial Analyst has advised the following:

1) Let at least one trusted individual know your password. It's difficult to get such person but it is better than loosing your investment's.

2) Write it and keep it in a vault. Although it's risky but at least it's more preferable.

3) Include your crypto investments in a will.

4) Use wallets that have inheritance plans.

5) Seek advice from cryto inheritance firms.

The conclusion is keep your Bitcoin secure, but accessible.


https://www.death.io/what-happens-to-your-cryptocurrency-after-you-die/

[BlackHatCoiner]

They also say that between 2.3 million and 3.7 million bitcoins amouting to over $15 to $24 billion have been lost due to disappearance of owners mainly caused by death.

Who said this? Could we have the study? Millions of coins can have been lost, but the overwhelming majority is definitely not because of deaths.

1) Let at least one trusted individual know your password. It's difficult to get such person but it is better than loosing your investment.

No, no, no. First of all if you're dead, you haven't lost only your investment, lol. Second, "trusted individuals", the way you say it, can rip you off very easily (while you're alive).

[tbct_mt2]

Private key is access to your Bitcoin. So make sure you do have back up for private key of your wallet. Depends on wallet you use, it can be either private key or mnemonic seed. You must back it up and have a few backups for recovery later.

Recovery can be done by you or your family members (in case you pass away unfortunately). Of course if you prepare for sudden accidents and have clear idea on who will inherit your Bitcoin, you should let them know about what they should do in case you die.

[PrivacyG]

1) Let at least one trusted individual know your password. It's difficult to get such person but it is better than loosing your investment.
2) Write it and keep it in a safe. Although it's risky but at least it's more preferable.
3) Include your crypto investments in a will.
4) Use wallets that have inheritance plans.

1, 2) I am certain the first point is riskier than the second.  Cryptocurrencies were created to AVOID trusting.  How about writing down on a notebook how to recover funds so in case you die your siblings will find it and get to your coins safely?
3) I, for one, would not.
4) Do you mean custodial wallets?  If so, no way!  If you are choosing custodial over non custodial, then there is no point in using Bitcoin!

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

[Rikafip]

Second, "trusted individuals", the way you say it, can rip you off very easily (while you're alive).

You don't have anyone in your life that you trust enough to share them seed phrase of your cold storage in case something happens to you?

How about writing down on a notebook how to recover funds so in case you die your siblings will find it and get to your coins safely?

There are better ways (automated) to do that if you don't trust nobody with your bitcoin while you are alive other than writing in some notebook. First of all, how will that person know what to do if you don't tell about it, and if you let that person know about some notebook with seed phrase, he/she might wanna steal that from you.

[bitzizzix]

In many cases, their ownership may be lost forever, and this is bound to happen on many occasions, which is why it is important to have a plan, to give your public key to whoever you wish to have it.
and this I have planned and I have written my will recently and made sure to leave notes and documents to my spouse regarding my ownership. And he knows where to look if I die, and will also gather everything based on those details.
but the plan made him feel sad and shed tears because it seemed as if he wanted to leave him immediately, because we promised to live as long as possible.

[BlackHatCoiner]

You don't have anyone in your life that you trust enough to share them seed phrase of your cold storage in case something happens to you?

They could have used the word "relatives" instead. "Trusted individuals" just doesn't sound right.

[Rikafip]

They could have used the word "relatives" instead. "Trusted individuals" just doesn't sound right.

To be honest, trusted individuals sounds better than relatives in this context as just because someone is your relative (or even a family member) doesn't mean that he can be trusted.

[Doan9269]

Several threads have been raised on the forum regarding this topic already, always make use of the search engine for relevant posts.

What happens to my bitcoin if i die today?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5284708.0

We make a plan bit heaven has it own
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5386921.0

What happens to the coins after your death?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5346148.0

What happens to my crypto when I die?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3080695.0

While in my own opinion, i will advise for adequate plan which start now, no one knows tomorrow but we all plan for good ahead, take control measures to ensure a proper pick up of your crypto keys by your immediate family anytime death occurs, make something worth traceable to locate having access to your wallet by your wife, child or family.

[batang_bitcoin]

Death isn't sometimes unpredictable but it is always unpredictable. And it's the time to educate our relatives about on how to take care of their wallets first.
When we think that they're good enough to understand how wallet works then that would be the time to give them idea that you're about to leave an inheritance through your assets by giving them your private keys.

[Mpamaegbu]

Financial Analyst has advised the following:

Who are these analysts, please? It will be good to know them so we can research and find out their pedigree. We should be able to find out if it isn't just another fallacy of argumentum ad verecundiam.

1) Let at least one trusted individual know your password.

Confiding your password to someone is like a man sharing his properties to his children while still alive. It's not a nice practice. Keep your properties in your will and let that be made known to the children at your demise. I've read stories of children misbehaving once they knew they're bequeathed certain properties while their parents are still alive. The attitude changes overnight, in most cases. It's the same way I see this password issue being confided in someone. The best would be to write it down somewhere that can lead someone else to it in case of the inevitability of death.

[Wexnident]

Wait a minute, so the wallet your friend was using was a custodial wallet? Since I'm assuming requiring the "email and password" would only lead to that. And why are we even mentioning passwords, private keys are what is needed to actually access the wallet no? I've personally kept a small drive that contains what my family needs to access my accounts whenever I die, it's kept pretty securely imo and I don't use that storage anymore, solely for storing my keys to prevent any malware from accessing it.

I'd honestly much rather avoid letting someone access my wallet while I'm still alive, I'd prefer them to wait after I die instead. It's just a matter of teaching them what to do imo.

[kryptqnick]

I guess some people feel it's better to die with their coins not becoming anyone's coins than to find a single person they can trust. As for me, my spouse and I share all our financial accesses with one another, so of course that includes access to cryptos. There's always a chance, of course, that both a person and the trusted person die, but still, it's better to let at least someone know than not let anyone know. And I feel sorry that there are people who have nobody in their lives they can trust with access to their money.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Currently his wife and son are suffering because he invested heavily on cryptocurrencies.

He should have a backup plan for the investments to secure for his family. I would say his family is suffering because of his mistake.

1) Let at least one trusted individual know your password. It's difficult to get such person but it is better than loosing your investment.

Yeah and then this guy become your headache especially imagine you have life-changing amount of bitcoin. It's better not to share that way. When you are married and had children your most trusted person is your partner, your wife, right? But you even never know some day you might get divorced and your wife immediately move all the coins to her own wallet. There are many ways to keep your coins secure for the next of your kin.

One easier one could be to have hardware wallet, split the seeds in several parts and keep the backups for yourself too. Don't let those people to know each others except you. Tell your next of kin if anything happens then to go to those guys and get the parts. Obviously teach them how to use a wallet and recover it from seed.

5) Seek advice from cryto inheritance firms.

Tell those people it's not rocket science. People in these forum would give them free advice which will work better than them LOL

[LogitechMouse]

1) Let at least one trusted individual know your password. It's difficult to get such person but it is better than loosing your investment.

This is for me the hardest part.
You don't know which are trusted and which are not and I'm the kind of person who took so much time to think and decide whether a person is trustworthy or not. Also my problem is that no one in my family is involved into crypto but only me.

2) Write it and keep it in a safe. Although it's risky but at least it's more preferable.

Well, I have no choice but to write it since I'm a kind of person that is very easy to forget things to the point that I need to write my routine for tomorrow before I get to sleep. I've kept it in a safe (kinda) place.

3) Include your crypto investments in a will.

Not thinking about this and I think I will not do this.

[PX-Z]

How about writing down on a notebook how to recover funds so in case you die your siblings will find it and get to your coins safely?

How would you tell them that where is that notebook in particular? Especially if someone with bitcoin died in accident? And writing it on a notebook seems not safe either.
Unless it was stored on a vault, but still you need to trust someone to tell them its pin while you're still alive.
Since telling them the pin, its like you tell them the password so you will keep it a secret. And same question will be asked how about you died in accident?

Well, i only think last will & testament will be best for this.

[Charles-Tim]

My own advice

Let your children be conversant about bitcoin. Depending on the number of your children:

You can use Shamir secrete sharing to encrypt the seed phrase or private key, letting your children know the number of shares needed to recover the seed phrase, and give each children one share and you will have one too. But due to single point of failure, you can use multisig setup

You can create a multisig wallet, read about it to know how it will work in a way certain keys are needed for recovery, but the people you give the seed phrase or keys will know the total amount of bitcoin.

You can use block height lock in a way the coins will not be sent to your children's bitcoin address before certain block height is mined. Or use time lock.

Even if not your child you trust with this, like not having children yet, these are still the best approach.

[romero121]

More suggestions were provided by users to inherit the holdings once after death. Keeping the private key safe and informed to a person close to him/her is considered the best way.

There are more firms supporting such services of inheriting the holdings legally. Nowadays centralized exchanges have started to request to provide details on nominee, so that if the respective user dies the holdings can be transferred to the nominee with ease. Coinbase exchange provides such access of transferring funds according to the will provided by the user.

According to the information from coinbase one need to name a beneficiary in his/her will and add a document to his/her estate plan that lists crypto assets and any passwords, PINs, keys and instructions to find your cold wallet. If you have an account at coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, beneficiary can contact customer support to notify them of the death and claim the holdings[/url]

[Beerwizzard]

I've seen a few services that promise to inherit your crypto savings to your trusted person. But I doubt they will work properly since inheriting money is more about possible legal issues. There are many laws that regulate the way this assets will be distributed. It often happens that relatives spending years trying to sue someone to get their inheritance. Therefore, it doesn't seem that 3rd party services (usually centralized) imo is not trustworthy.

It feels like it is safer just to give your private key to your lawyer (or if you don't trust the lawyer then you can make a bank deposit box and tell the lawyer about it) and pass it to someone else in your last will. In this case you private key wouldn't get lost and your relatives  would have less legal problems.

[rodskee]

I had been saving Cryptocurrencies for my children and wife  so yeah I did all the precautionary measures as I also assume this may come to everyone .

My wife and Eldest Son already has the share for my private keys so in case of unexpected death then they can share the keys and will take all my funds for their uses when I'm gone.