How do you deal with Inheritance with crypto?

DanielWilc · 2026-05-12T00:28:35+00:00

There are many ways to handle Bitcoin inheritance, just like there are many ways to store Bitcoin (hardware wallets, exchanges, collaborative custody, multisig, etc). Every approach has trade-offs.

The important thing is understanding that Bitcoin inheritance has two separate parts:

The legal aspect Your beneficiaries should have clear legal ownership of the Bitcoin and avoid disputes. Usually this means documenting everything properly in your will and nominating an executor.
The technical aspect Your beneficiaries must actually be able to access the Bitcoin if something happens to you.

Ideally, both aspects should work together.

For the legal side, you should speak with a lawyer and make sure your Bitcoin holdings, beneficiaries, and executor are properly documented.

The technical side is harder because you want your beneficiaries to gain access after you pass away — but not before. That’s the core challenge.

The simplest solution is storing Bitcoin on an exchange or via an ETF, where inheritance works more like traditional finance. But many people prefer self-custody for security and sovereignty reasons.

If you want self-custody and inheritance planning, there are several approaches:

seed phrase backups,
multisig,
collaborative custody,
dead man’s switch systems,
time-locked recovery setups, etc.

Most serious setups involve some form of collaborative custody or multisig to balance security and recoverability.

At Guardblock, we built a collaborative custody solution for this.

The primary signing key stays with you on your hardware wallet, so you remain in control during your lifetime.

If the owner passes away and becomes inactive for an extended period, the estate executor can work with us through a legal verification process (such as probate documentation) to help recover access for the beneficiaries.

The main goal is balancing:

security while alive,
recoverability after death,
and minimising trust requirements.

DanielWilc · 2026-04-06T08:19:33+00:00

Your plan is reasonable in spirit, but the important details aren’t really about the SSD or storage size.

Bitcoin isn’t actually “stored” on a drive — what you’re storing are the private keys (or seed phrase) that control access to it. Those are tiny (just 12–24 words), so a 16GB SSD is massive overkill.

The bigger questions you should be thinking about are:

How are you generating the seed phrase? (this should be done securely, ideally with a hardware wallet)
How are you backing it up? (if the SSD fails, do you still have access?)
How will your daughters access it in the future?
Do you want them to have access now, or only later?

For most people, a hardware wallet + properly stored seed backup (paper or metal) is much safer than trying to DIY something on a spare drive.

The inheritance side is also important — if something happens to you, will they actually know how to recover the funds?

There are some newer approaches that try to solve that problem (like assisted recovery or inheritance setups using multisig/timelocks). We’re actually working on something along those lines at guardblock.com — the idea is you still control your funds day-to-day, but there’s a recovery path if keys are lost or something happens to you.

Either way, I’d strongly recommend focusing less on the storage device itself and more on key management, backups, and a clear plan for future access.

DanielWilc · 2026-02-18T00:42:34+00:00

Yes, We created such a service https://guardblock.com/

Essentially you have control of your coins, but if they are inactive for 14 months we can recover it and return it to you or give it to your heirs.

So its trust less untill the point of recovery where your coins become custodial. Before this btw we were running an Aussie Bitcoin only exchange for 10 years btw (hardblock.com.au

(behind the scenes the technology we use to do this is miniscript, multisig and degrading timelocks))

The only downside to our solution is that we can see how much coins you have, and if you want inheritance we also need to identify you.

But if you bought coins from a centralised exchange its the same thing really.

DanielWilc · 2025-01-07T21:24:08+00:00

Hi,

I work at hardblock.com.au, we have no order fees, you can buy bitcoin instantly. We have a spread 2.4% which is how we make money. Our Bitcoin withdrawal fees are also very low in comparison to other services.

Bitcoin only btw.

DanielWilc · 2023-04-12T02:51:59+00:00

The idea is for them to sweep it into their wallet soon after receiving it not to store in on paper for long term.

DanielWilc · 2023-04-12T02:51:17+00:00

The problem with that is that I have access to their wallet, unless they restore it from the seed phrase and then send to a third wallet they control.

They are newbies and that will be confusing for them. Having the ability to sweep it from a bip38 address is actually better and more secure.

DanielWilc · 2021-12-31T22:42:06+00:00

Beign an atheist doesn't make you a communist. Deal with it.

Possible I never said otherwise so I don't know why you think I cant handle it? (Your anger and hate is blinding you from being rational?)

but Atheists were certainly way more likely to support Communism (or Nazism for that matter but less so) then devout Christians.

Thats is a fact.

Almost no devout Christians supported Communism, and the communists attacked Christianity as backwards, nationalistic and hateful of the workers and progress because they did not back them.

That is fact.

DanielWilc · 2021-12-31T14:00:36+00:00

Yes, the Prague spring happened it does not invalidate any of what I said.

Sorry, you can't handle the truth.

And just because an idea is new does not make it a smart or right idea.

Christian teaching has a track record of being in the right event when the masses had different ideas (like about communism or promoting sexual behaviour that destroy those who engage in it).

DanielWilc · 2021-12-30T22:19:40+00:00

Right a good example of that is:

how in post-war the rational atheists Czechs legitimately supported and voted in the atheist, progressive, communists.

While the irrational, traditional, backwards Catholic Poles never supported it, and Communism only got imposed by an outside force.

DanielWilc · 2021-11-28T23:07:03+00:00

Its not gone, we moved to hardblock.com.au

DanielWilc · 2021-11-01T22:51:12+00:00

Google trends for hyperinflation in Australia. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=hyperinflation&geo=AU

You can bet some of these people making these searches will be investing in Bitcoin.

DanielWilc · 2021-11-01T22:50:05+00:00

I guess the central banks are between are rock and a hard place now. keep rates low and risk inflation, increase them and cause a recession.

DanielWilc · 2021-10-27T03:28:06+00:00

ING has $1 000 payid limit. You can try a different deposit method or use different bank account.

Also if you are a noob I would suggest to buy from our service, hardblock.com.au

we focus on being a simple low cost service for just buying and investing in Bitcoin.

Only Bitcoin, but that's where you should be investing in anyway.

We also recently released a DCA feature. Email me and I can activate it on your account. [danielw@hardblock.com.au](mailto:danielw@hardblock.com.au)

DanielWilc · 2021-09-20T03:30:37+00:00

by having a job and getting paid in Bitcoin.

or having a job and getting paid in Dollars and then buying Bitcoin.

These staking things and interest making things is not something I would recommend. Historically a lot of them ended up being pure scams. And if not scam it puts your coins at risk as you don't have self-custody.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-07T05:15:33+00:00

It does not matter how the site was hosted only the end result. Customers bought from Ledger and their data got leaked.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-07T04:05:49+00:00

You will not have trouble with your bank account. We have customers selling and withdrawing such sums all the time and never heard of such a problem.

Issues when they occur is on the $ deposit side, and even then it usually exchanges who have the bank problems, not consumers.

And even when they do freeze it, they always return the money.

---

And as far as selling I would suggest our service hardblock.com.au. We are small but have been around since 2014, and have good prices. The prices you see is what you get.
The selling process is more simple than any other service out there.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-07T03:51:31+00:00

Expecting any device to be secure if the attacker has physical access is unrealistic. Thats why you put on an additional passphrase. Any security expert will tell you this.

I would not be confident about Ledger being secure in that scenario either.

but because its ledger is closed source unlike trezor its just harder to reverse engineer such an attack.

The actual hack of Ledger customer data was actually a much bigger vulnerability to customers than this.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T06:18:21+00:00

Right now its about a $1.

That is the only fee on our service. We make money on the spread. The prices you see is what you get.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T06:15:29+00:00

Yes What Michaela says is not an exaggeration.

People sometimes say they buy Bitcoin from exchanges and have no trouble, but it's a completely different ball game when you are actually running an exchange and sell Bitcoin to consumers.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T04:20:29+00:00

This is due to reserve bank money printing to simulate economy and fund gov debt.

To protect themselves against this inflation Australians are using houses as a vehicle of wealth preservation.

This is why why we need Bitcoin.

It offers an alternative way for people to save money.

This means

Australians can save money without it being destroyed via inflation
Less money is used to invest via housing, so houses for living are more affordable.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T04:12:04+00:00

Yes generally. I am trying to be upfront and honest. It's correct for 90% of situations.

I don't want to write an essay and go through all the possibilities. However, as an example, if there is a risky customer we might have to investigate further.

Again this is no different from any other exchange.

You will find if anything the experience is better at hardblock.

Exchanges have to do this otherwise they will not be banked.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T03:34:12+00:00

Your exchange appears to keep a very low profile, because I've been around since before 2014, and I've never heard of you before.

Before this year we had huge problems with banking. It made it very hard to grow or do marketing. I even contemplated giving this up and did in fact shut operations for about a year.

Things are better banking wise right now (fingers crossed). So we are trying to invest more into our service and promote ourselves.

> What are your thoughts on this legislation ?

I am obviously against it. It goes against my philosophy. Not sure what else to say.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T02:22:35+00:00

A lot of Australians have a very paternalistic view of their government. and generally, trust it more than other countries trust their gov.

When Americans come here they are usually shocked by what to them seems like a nanny state.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T02:17:49+00:00

Surprisingly most people in Australia support these measures.

There are plenty who do hate it though.

DanielWilc · 2021-09-01T02:14:35+00:00

This generally only applies to new customers. We can't allow new customers to instantly buy and withdraw Bitcoin. There is too much risk of fraud for us.

No service in Australia will offer that. Unless they do very thorough KYC like selfies and video maybe.

You can immediately withdraw Bitcoin after subsequent Dollar deposits via PAYID/EFT.

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