What happens to your crypto if something happens to you? Have you really prepared for that?
This is something that’s been on my mind lately ,and I think it’s something many of us in the crypto space avoid talking about.
We go to great lengths to protect our private keys and seed phrases. Cold wallets, metal backups, multi-sig setups... we lock everything down so no one but us has access. That’s great for security — but what if you suddenly die or fall into a coma? Would your spouse, kids, or family be able to access your crypto?
A lot of people might say, “I’ve written it down somewhere, they’ll figure it out.” But let’s be honest — in a real emergency, things get messy. Crypto isn’t like a traditional bank account where someone can just present a death certificate and get access. If you haven’t made a clear and secure plan, your coins could end up lost forever.
I actually know someone this happened to — a guy I met a while back died unexpectedly in an accident. He had a cold wallet with a decent chunk of BTC, and to this day, his wife still hasn’t been able to recover any of it. He didn’t use any kind of inheritance system or trusted setup. It’s just... gone.
As important as this is, I am not going to stress myself too much over something I have no control over. Investing in Bitcoin is already a risk in all aspects. If I disclose everything about my assets to third parties, I stand the risk of losing them if those I disclose them to are not trustworthy. Even if I decide not to disclose them to anyone, I still stand the chance of losing them if anything happens to me and I am the only one who can access my bitcoins.
My partner knows I own bitcoins, although can't access them for now. I will disclose my private keys when I feel the time is right. But for now, I won't stress much about it.