Inheritance Planning for Cryptocurrencies
Unfortunately, life is unpredictable and nobody's insured against a sudden death — even if it sounds harsh. There's already been a lot of cases when people died in accidents, and their next of kin couldn't access cryptocurrencies owned by the deceased because they did not know private keys to wallets or passwords on cryptocurrency exchanges. Consequently, a lot of coins are simply lost forever. This issue is just as burning with SPARTA.
Does it mean that private keys and passwords must be deliberately communicated to the family?
We certainly don't imply you must do just that — your keys and passwords must remain confidential, after all. Life presents us with various situations, and sometimes we have to be wary of the people closest to us. Summing up, in this case the owner of cryptocurrency is the only person making the decision as to whether they can trust their family or not.
What would be the right thing to do?
We believe that today, when the blockchain technology hasn't yet become ingrained in our everyday lives, the most sensible options would be:
- Note down your cryptocurrency access data on paper.
- Store it in a secure safe or a safe-deposit box.
- Hold on to the key to the safe or the safe-deposit box.
- Give directions to the bank to grant access to the safe-deposit box to you and designated persons only. It ensures strangers cannot access the vault even if they could get hold of the key.
- Make a will and leave it with a trusted person: attorney, notary, etc.
- Attach the key to the safe or the safe-deposit box to the will.
Why are these options the most sensible today? It's because most countries have not yet introduced legal regulations for cryptocurrencies, with their status still uncertain. This is why your family may encounter legal issues if there is no will. Hacking into the system is impossible — no one will be eager to do it meaning that all savings in cryptocurrencies will just remain on the accounts of the deceased. Therefore, it wouldn’t hurt to have a safety net in the form of a will if you want your coins to be inherited by your family upon your demise.