Having access to bitcoin only when timeout hits zero

[5W-KILO]

I've been thinking alot lately, I want to ask this question without revealing too much, pls try to understand.

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?


Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?


Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

Yes, you can as it is possible.

With Bitcoin, you can use Locktime for doing this, and if you want, let's read this guide but be careful when using Locktime if it's your first time trying this. Do this with very small fund like for your trial and learning.
Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts
Locktime.

[Charles-Tim]

I do not think I can set time lock for more than a year and that will be for adults and not children. I will prefer to revisit it every six months instead.

Why not make use of seed phrase but you can extend it with passphrase for better security of the coins. Also seed phrase is better to explain than time lock. He is still just a very little person. If he gets older, he can easily understand seed phrase and how to use to for recovering coins.

You can change it to time lock as he grows older and able to understand what time lock is. Worth knowing that you are the sender still have access to the coin before the date set.

[CTO114]

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?


Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

Yes, you can as it is possible.

With Bitcoin, you can use Locktime for doing this, and if you want, let's read this guide but be careful when using Locktime if it's your first time trying this. Do this with very small fund like for your trial and learning.
Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts
Locktime.

Can we truly block Bitcoin for a while using lock time?

Since Bitcoin runs a decentralization system, can we block that operation?

Do we only have power to block the access to it, instead of Bitcoin itself?

[Hewlet]

Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

Is it actually neccesary to luck your asset for a duration of 20 plus years without a plan of ever touching it regardless what happens in between those period of time? It sounds cool on the Face Look but in reality, it's not actually as cool as it seems.

I would rather have a plan as this without actually time lucking the asset and by that it means I will just have to decide that I'm not selling my coin that I've assigned for my child till a particular duration. As time goes and things progress, it becomes more convenient for me to make my decision based on the prevelent reality.

[Ruttoshi]

Can we truly block Bitcoin for a while using lock time?

Yes, you block spending only your own bitcoin in your self custody wallet.

Since Bitcoin runs a decentralization system, can we block that operation?

You can not stop bitcoin blockchain from running but you can lock only your bitcoin in the blockchain through lock time by blocking a transaction to be mined until after a specific time or block height. It's just like you post-dating a cheque.
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/transaction/locktime/

Locktime is very technical, I think using the seed phrase will be the best in the beginning and later, use the locktime when you have understood it properly.

[aylabadia05]

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?

Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

I’ll explain how I think this is a good approach to follow. You must set a strong password for your wallet. Store your seed phrase in a location that is absolutely guaranteed to be safe from unforeseen events. Try to keep your address private.
By doing this, I can ensure that these simple steps will keep my Bitcoin safe for as long as I want to hold onto it.

[Gost ms]

Like you, I had the same question in my mind a few days ago. But at that time I thought that if we use multi-signature wallet then maybe it would be possible. The biggest reason for thinking like this is that maybe one person may want to liquidate his holdings before the time but other people may not. Keeping this in mind, I thought maybe if we use multi-signature wallet then maybe we can do it.

A few days ago I came across a thread and this thread will be very useful for you. Although an elder brother has given you this thread, I am giving it again.

[aoluain]

I've been thinking alot lately, I want to ask this question without revealing too much, pls try to understand.

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?


Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

If you get a Trezor hardware wallet for example you can use the locktime feature, its also a viable
option for inheritances.

https://trezor.io/learn/supported-assets/bitcoin/locktime-in-trezor-suite

and also take custody of your own Bitcoin.

Locktime is a great feature as per your example scenario. It is also a viable option to secure
some Bitcoin so that it is inaccessible for a period of time

[retreat]

There's a locktime feature for this, but it only works on self-custody wallets like Electrum, etc. Besides locktime, there's another way to inherit, such as setting a multi-signature, so that if the child wants to make a transaction, they need at least two or three parties to approve it, you can also do that with Electrum. Or, more simply, you can save the seed phrase and then give it to your child when they fully understand Bitcoin, so they can only access the wallet when they're ready to manage it.

[Yamane_Keto]

Locktime might seem like the best solution, as you choose to lock your coins up to a specific block, making it impossible to know the exact date but only to estimate the time using the block number.

Another method is time encryption for wallet seed https://timevault.drand.love/ github link https://github.com/drand/timevault choose a date and keep the encrypted file; it cannot be decrypted until that time has passed.

There are also methods that rely on third parties and multi-signature wallets.

[Yaunfitda]

I've been thinking alot lately, I want to ask this question without revealing too much, pls try to understand.

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?


Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

Yes, it's possible, there are 3rd party services that allow you to have this kind of set-up. Although the catch is that it's another service or a middle-man so you might not want to put all your eggs in one basket. Or you can check this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2415595.0

Or this one:

https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0112.mediawiki

[Zaguru12]

Like you, I had the same question in my mind a few days ago. But at that time I thought that if we use multi-signature wallet then maybe it would be possible. The biggest reason for thinking like this is that maybe one person may want to liquidate his holdings before the time but other people may not. Keeping this in mind, I thought maybe if we use multi-signature wallet then maybe we can do it.

I don’t see Multi sig wallet actually working here because the holder is simply only him and not like the wife or other family member are actually doing a joint task holding to suggest Multi sig such that one person doesn’t actually try to sell of the bitcoin. This is simply about him saving for his child and I think he wants something that will make him not to actually touch those funds until his predicted time.

Multi sig will just be an advance way of securing the wallet just like one will do with normal wallet set up with seed phrase and pass phrase added. In fact if it is not even two devices that he has then multi sig will be even not a great option because of one point of failure.

The time lock idea though is perfect for this situation but OP must also be very wary of the receiving address private key or seed phrase, losing that will definitely cause another problem again

[Yamane_Keto]

I don’t see Multi sig wallet actually working here because the holder is simply only him and not like the wife or other family member are actually doing a joint task holding to suggest Multi sig such that one person doesn’t actually try to sell of the bitcoin. This is simply about him saving for his child and I think he wants something that will make him not to actually touch those funds until his predicted time.

Multi-signature wallets can be used via 2-of-2, where one signature is with the child and the other is with a person, lawyer, court, or third-party service, so that no money can be spent from that address except with the consent of both parties. In this way, it can be ensured that the child will not spend the money until after reaching university.

[tabas]

I've been thinking alot lately, I want to ask this question without revealing too much, pls try to understand.

Is there any possible way to lock Bitcoin for few years in the future?


Let's say you have son who is 2 years old today and you want him to have access to some bitcoin at a particular age, like 25years old, is it possible to time lock some bitcoin till that time in the future? Anyone know a possible way?

While there are the pros and cons on this one, and it's not assured that you'll locktime that for 23 years or so. I think I would agree with charles tim about to visit it once in a while. Others would agree that they will just leave it on their hardware wallet while keeping the seeds. Well, on this matter there really are the advantages and disadvantages that we see and on how effective it will be for each of us depending on the situation. But for me, I'll choose flexibility rather than locking it for so many years because who knows that you might need it in the midst of that long wait.

[d5000]

With Bitcoin, you can use Locktime for doing this, and if you want, let's read this guide but be careful when using Locktime if it's your first time trying this. Do this with very small fund like for your trial and learning.
Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts
Locktime.

I would use CheckLockTimeVerify instead of Locktime in the scenario you have in mind.

Locktime should be used if you want to have access to the coins yourself during the time you "lock" the coins. This means that if you gift a transaction with Locktime to someone, the ownership of the coins still is not on his side. It is not very different of you simply promising him to give him the coins in 5 years.

A transaction with a Locktime of 5 years basically means "If I have the coins still in 5 years at the same address, then you will be able to access it."

With CheckLockTimeVerify you can transfer the ownership today with a transaction but block access until a block or timestamp you specify. This would be more my definition of a "gift".

CheckSequenceVerify (BIP-112) instead is a little bit less straightforward as you will block access for a number of blocks or a timeframe, i.e. for 100000 blocks or for 5 years. But it's of course also usable here. (Edit: Actually CSV has a time limit, it can't be used for very long locks. CLTV can be used for that, but it's not recommended for very long locks either.)

PS: There are surprisingly few wallets supporting CLTV natively with a nice interface. The method with coinb.in described in the thread linked by @Yaunfitda may be the most straightforward way for most people as it doesn't require installation of a third party app. coinb.in has a good reputation (it can and should be used offline). However, you need to be aware that you can lose your coins if you lose the redeem script you generate with this method!

[dansus021]

Yes, you can as it is possible.

With Bitcoin, you can use Locktime for doing this, and if you want, let's read this guide but be careful when using Locktime if it's your first time trying this. Do this with very small fund like for your trial and learning.
Using Locktime for inheritance planning, backups or gifts
Locktime.

Whatttt I just know that this is really possible.


Tho the best idea in my opinion, is just buy hardware wallet never connected to the internet send BTC regularly and write the phrase for backup and put it maybe in bank safe deposit box, tell the manager that only you and your son can have access into the vault. This is the simpliest way in my opinion.

[Zaguru12]

Multi-signature wallets can be used via 2-of-2, where one signature is with the child and the other is with a person, lawyer, court, or third-party service, so that no money can be spent from that address except with the consent of both parties. In this way, it can be ensured that the child will not spend the money until after reaching university.

Ok I am actually aware of this set up where the total number of co-signers is equivalent to the number of signatures needs for signing the transaction but then it goes back to my query of this method again, which is that who is responsible for the custodianship of the keys, like you rightly said one be with the child and one with a lawyer or something like that, first of all the one with the child automatically means that one also is with the father too because a 2 year old child can’t keep self custody. Now with one part with the father, he can still get to the second co-signing key with the lawyer because he wrote that will and it can still be amended as have seen repeatedly happening before.

So like I said the other options aside the time lock can still give the father access to the coins before he the first appointed time.