Did you share your key to your family?

[Chipard]

We can't escape death and we don't know when we die... Crypto wallets aren't like traditional investments. They can be more vulnerable to security issues, and you generally can't name a beneficiary. Since we need to store our crypto to offline wallet or hardware wallet and we must store safely and secure our keys offline, did you already share your key to your family? Do you have any tips to make a good plan to your crypto assets for loved ones just in case when you die?

[Little Mouse]

Why don’t?
Well, it's all about trust. I trust my family members. I don't have problem with sharing my passphrase with all the family members as I know it will be safe and secure with them.
However, I haven’t shared with anyone other than my wife. My wife knows where have my passphrase stored, how to use that and everything someone should know for using a hardware wallet to selling the asset.
Otherwise, my savings may someday get lost. I'm saving for myself, for my family of course.

[Pmalek]

My family knows where to find my recovery phrases and other pieces of information to recover all my coins, but they don't have a copy of anything in their hands. There is no reason for them to have copies of the seeds for cold storage. They know what they have to do and where to look for the essentials for recovery if one day I don't come back home. That's it. My family isn't interested in Bitcoin, only I am. I am sure they will gladly convert in into fiat one day when I am gone.   

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

What's the benefits if after securing a financial freedom for yourself your family doesn't have the privilege to enjoy it after you pass away just because of you been too secure and not trusting those you call your family. Getting your family involved in the space should be a necessity. It could be your kids wife or siblings (if you aren't married yet) but atleast teach someone all you know so incase death was to call, you have someone who takes over.

You can either use a will or give that information directly to any of them you trust. Personally I have introduced some of my family member into the space and given directions on how to access some of my cryptocurrency investment, Incase something unpleasant was to occur to me. If you haven't done that yet, you should try it as it gives another sense of satisfaction knowing your family can access your assets when you're gone.

[hosseinimr93]

If you want someone to have access to your bitcoin after your death, you can use locktime feature.
With locktime, you can make a transaction which will be valid after a certain time and can't be broadcast to the network before that.

Read the guide created by LoyceV.
Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts

[maydna]

Yes, I have shared my keys with my family but not the keys to my main wallet, so I will give them later when they open my will when I am dead. You can prepare as I did, and you can also give away the keys to your wallet from now on as you teach your family about crypto and how to use it. It will be more beneficial for your family because they will surely learn a lot from you and can figure it out on their own. Teaching them how to secure their wallets is very important, especially if they are new to crypto, because once they search for more information, they are bound to run into various kinds of problems. And if you've given them a basic lesson in crypto, at least they'll know how to deal with it.

[aoluain]

Yes, I have shared my keys with my family but not the keys to my main wallet, so I will give them later when they open my will when I am dead.

Are the private keys in your will?
Who has access to that will?

If anyone else has access to that will thats a compromise in security. I would like
to know how exactly you went about this?

I have a copy of my Brothers private keys and likewise he has mine. It is a matter of
trust which should normally lie within a family.

The other side is when you pass away the biggest gift you can give to the community
and the Bitcoin network is to leave the coins unclaimed, as Satoshi did.

[joker_josue]

There are some steps you can take. Note some examples:

- Keep the recovery phrase in a safe, at home or in a bank. It is generally a difficult place for thieves to access. But at the same time, it can make it possible for trusted people to access it, in case we have an accident.

- Split the sentence into several files, trusted people. Since only you know the sequence, it becomes very difficult to find it or take a long time for it to happen. Also, if the people who have part of the recovery phrase don't know or know who has the other parts, it becomes even more difficult to be able to gather that information effectively. Then someone you trust should know the sequence and who has the key parts.

[kimcil_password]

Yes I bequeath to the family I trust and you can pass it on to your closest family (who you trust) with information about the private key and who will be the heirs of the crypto assets before you die.

In the letter of inheritance, you can write down all the instructions in detail and specifically. Also write down the complete combination of letters and numbers for your private and public key. Last but not least, it is important to make sure that only the heirs can access this information.

[Upgrade00]

Giving more people copies of your private keys creates several points of error, where the safety of your assets does not depend on you as anyone of them could be careless with it.
You can inform them (them being anyone you trust enough and you want to inherit your wealth) of where you stored a copy of your seedphrase or where you stashed up your hardware wallet. You should also teach them how to use it safely and properly.

Locktime transactions could work, but it would require monitoring as you would need to change the raw transaction from time to time and inform them of the new one.

[LinoOn]

3 part of private keys, and gave them to different people.
They don't know each other

[Rruchi man]

Did you already share your key to your family?

I wouldn't advice this exactly to anyone, regardless of a person being called family, it doesn't eliminate them from the possibilities of what could happen. We have heard cases formerly of family members killing another family member directly or indirectly for fiat that they discovered a person owned. Who is to say that such a situation cannot happen in crypto as well, that is - You making the mistake to just give away your keys to someone you call family knowing fully well that there's a huge sum of crypto therein. You can never can tell what life situations will turn that your family member into should you think you know them so well and can trust them.

Telling your family members especially the ones who are tech savvy and maybe into crypto as well that you are into cryptocurrency is enough, you don't need to divulge your keys just yet. They will be aware in the case of a situation like death that there is something called "keys", the next thing for them will be how to get your keys, which you may have included in your will, or written somewhere they know you keep private things like a notepad. Someone with information on crypto, and who knows exactly what they are looking for can find the "keys" written down properly in a stockpile of notepads.

[Issa56]

I think sharing your private key with your family is a great idea, because  if nobody knows about your wallet private key and you die your funds are gone and your family members might really need it, so is better you have someone you really trust to give your private key.
I saw a post few weeks ago about a son that killed his father just to steal his father's bitcoin, so we steal have to be very careful with the family member we are sharing our private key with.

[qwertyup23]

We can't escape death and we don't know when we die... Crypto wallets aren't like traditional investments. They can be more vulnerable to security issues, and you generally can't name a beneficiary. Since we need to store our crypto to offline wallet or hardware wallet and we must store safely and secure our keys offline, did you already share your key to your family? Do you have any tips to make a good plan to your crypto assets for loved ones just in case when you die?

This is one of those issues where it gets frequently brought up due to the privacy of BTC addresses and wallets.

Based from my experience alone, I told my brother the password to my wallets and exchanges in the event that an unfortunate scenario happens unexpectedly. Just like any investment, you must always have a contingence plan in the event of accidents, etc.

By providing your private key to at least your most trusted family member/s, it adds an extra layer of security on both you and your family especially if you have BTCs involving large amounts of sum.

[noorman0]

Sharing the private key is tantamount to risking trust in the honesty of not secretly accessing the wallet and the ability to keep the private key safe (not making another backup elsewhere). So far I have not shared any access to my family including my wife even though she actually knows how it works.

I just stick to the principle, "your keys, your coins"

[Cookdata]

These days, trust is a big challenge in society and that's what Bitcoin has eliminated. However, I trust my mum with my recovery seed only for now, until I marry and even at that, we have to have kids together for me to entrust my hodl in her care.

Why don’t?
Well, it's all about trust. I trust my family members. I don't have problem with sharing my passphrase with all the family members as I know it will be safe and secure with them.
However, I haven’t shared with anyone other than my wife. My wife knows where have my passphrase stored, how to use that and everything someone should know for using a hardware wallet to selling the asset.
Otherwise, my savings may someday get lost. I'm saving for myself, for my family of course.

At the bolded, is your passphrase enough to have access to your bitcoin? I think not except if your family already have access to the recovery seed.

[The Cryptovator]

If we can't trust anyone from my family then we can't survive to be honest. It's not all about cryptocurrency, even in real life you have to trust your family members even not all, at least your nearest. However, none of my family members are familiar with cryptocurrency. The younger brother didn't study much and don't understand at all but still struggling to teach him. So I always maintain a notebook to record all of my wallet and exchange credentials. In case of leave, they would find it and contact the person who could help them to recover my funds. Of course, I wrote the contact number to whom should contact. Also, I trust someone out of my family that he will recover my funds for my family. That's how I have been managing my credentials.

[Marvelman]

Another approach to share your keys is to create  multisignature wallet, where every signature needs two or more of your private keys to be signed (e.g. I can create a multisig wallet with only two keys, or 2-of-3 keys, but all keys are controlled by someone else). Thus, in the event of an unforeseen event, all funds in the wallet are still safe and accessible.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

Maybe soon I will start teaching them the basics of crypto but I won't let them know immediately that I have some amount of crypto in my wallet, since they will probably expect that I am holding plenty and could think too much that I am rich and just keeping it secret for them. I'll wait until I make that BTC count bulky enough.
Hopefully it will be just a straightforward explanation for them.

[Erumo]

I would never share my keys with my family. First of all, these keys are mine, and I would like to keep them personal for as long as possible. Second, no one in my family understand what crypto is, how to use it and so on. Sharing keys to them will be dangerous. Same as leaving private key on a bus stop.