Who gets Control of your Crypto Assets after you Die?
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!
I would rather deal with the taxes because death scares me.
The fact that I might be here today and gone tomorrow makes me cringe. But, the truth of the matter is that none of us is ever going to live forever. Even the biblical beloved Lazarus whom Jesus resurrected from the dead is no longer with us today.
When I think about death I usually get to comfort myself with the thought that I am in the prime of my life and death should not be part of my worries today — right?
Then recently I came across the story of what is said to have happened to Gerald Cotten, the CEO of the Canadian based Cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX — Cotten died, that is, without leaving his passwords with anyone.
Net result: he reportedly left a total of $190 million completely inaccessible.
Cotten died (as his company put it) “due to complications with Crohn’s disease” while on a trip to India in December.
Now, I do not know whether this is all there is to this story but if true this is a real tragedy, a 30-year-old man who is still in his ‘’prime’ ’passed away unexpectedly.
But adding to the story is that as CBC reported, his widow has his encrypted laptop in her possession —BUT neither she nor a company they hired to try to hack the passwords has been able to figure it out!
As Gizmodo summarized, QuadrigaCX therefore “cannot repay most of $190 million in client holdings,” since Cotten was the only person who could access the money.
QuadrigaCX’s crypto investors are wishing they’d kept their money in boring old mutual funds and bank accounts.
This is a tough lesson learned here — if one dies without leaving trail to their passwords and private keys then its tough luck for their family and loved ones as all the money will remain stuck on the blockchain and exchanges.
As a crypto assets holder it’s always smart that you have some kind of plan in play so that someone you know or your family can take over your assets for you.
Whatever you do, it’s not wise to leave your private keys listed in you last Will and Testament —WHY — the document itself can become public and as we all know once a private key goes public, well it gone.
This is what I think you should be doing instead.
You could make a list of your total current holdings, where they’re held (wallets, exchanges, etc) and the current value and yes do this privately.
As for keeping coins on exchange, its not advisable to store funds on exchange for long intervals. The undiluted truth is that if you don’t own the private keys then you do not have control. Funds on exchange should just be for transactions.
It is important to plan around what kinds of storage you’re currently using. What do you like about it? What’s not working for you? How could it be better? Could your heirs access your storage devices and/or passwords if needed?.By using a hardware wallet or a paper wallet, or some other safer means to store your private keys, you can ensure that family has access to it.
Decide who gets what? Do you want one person to inherit all of your crypto? If you want more than one person or organization to get a share, use percentages instead of hard values (10% not 10 Bitcoin).
Also consider the following questions in your planning; Do your heirs understand this technology? Can they create and provide their own addresses for transfer? Or will the assets be liquidated to fiat currency that will be distributed to your heirs?Who will help your heirs through the process?
It might be helpful if you could take your take time to enlighten your relatives on what bitcoin/blockchain technology is all about, how to access crypto wallets and how to move the funds.This would help them when you’re gone because they wont have to over-rely on third parties to access their inheritance as there is a risk of being cheated in the process.
Then lastly, store backups. Store your backups in geographically-diverse, secure, access-controlled locations. I would use facilities such as bank vaults (most banks offer safer custody facilities for such matters), safes at home, and/or attorneys or accountants.
And Do it sooner rather than later!
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