The Good Tech Companies - Educational Byte: What Happens to Someone's Crypto if They Die?

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/educational-byte-what-happens-to-someones-crypto-if-they-die. Without a plan, your crypto could vanish forever when you’re gone. Let’s talk about how to make sure your loved ones can access it securely. Check more stories related to web3 at: https://hackernoon.com/c/web3. You can also check exclusive content about #private-keys, #cryptocurrency-inheritance, #dead-mans-switch, #cryptocurrency-investment, #multisignature, #crypto-wallet-security, #obyte, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @obyte. Learn more about this writer by checking @obyte's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. If you lose your private key to a self-custody wallet, the coins remain on the ledger but can never move again. If your crypto is stored with an exchange or company that holds the keys for you, your heirs might get access after a legal process. Even a small amount is worth protecting.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. Educational byte. What happens to someone's crypto if they die? By Obite. Picture this. Your family finds out you had thousands or millions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Obite. They're excited at first, then puzzled, then alarmed when they realize no one knows how to get in. That's because crypto isn't like a bank account where you can walk in with a death certificate. So, no potential crypto inheritance there. To use crypto outside centralized exchanges, in your own non-custodial wallet, you need something called a private key. This is a long code or a string of random words to access the funds. Whoever has these private keys can spend the coins, and without them, no one can. Not your family,

not the wallet company, not the developers who built the network. There's no reset password button. This is part of the charm of decentralized crypto networks. You're in complete control. No middleman, no government, no central authority can limit or freeze your accounts. But it also means if you're gone and your loved ones don't have your keys, your funds might as well be locked and evolved drifting through space. Whether your coins are in Bitcoin's blockchain or obites dag, the rule is the same. When the keys are gone, once the private key to a self-custody wallet is lost, the coins remain on the ledger but can never move again. That's not a figure of speech, it's permanent. One of the most famous cautionary tales is Gerald Cotton, founder of the

Canadian Exchange Quadriga CX. In 2018, he died unexpectedly in India. Reports say he was the only person with access to cold, offline, self-custody wallets holding about $190 million in customer crypto. Those funds have never been recovered, and there's a documentary with all kinds of speculations about it. HTTPS colon slash www. www. youtube.com slash watch question mark V equals Kako's Fesley and embeddable equals Truethin. There are the early Bitcoin users who misplaced their private keys or passwords and now watch, helpless, as their wallets sit on the public ledger with millions inside. One of them is the programmer Stefan Thomas, who lost the password to his hardware

wallet and thus the access to 7,002 BTC, around $819.2 million at current prices. If your crypto is stored with an exchange or company that holds the keys for you, your errors might get access after a legal process. This is especially apliesto platforms that handle crypto but offer typical email and password accounts instead of private keys. However, for non-custodial wallets, which many see asked true crypto experience, no amount of court orders will help without the key, because no one else has access. How to make sure your crypto lives on? You don't need to be a millionaire to take precautions. Even a small amount is worth protecting. Here's how you can make sure your coins don't vanish with you. Write a crypto will. Include clear instructions, wallet locations,

and recovery phrases in a legal will. Look for lawyers who understand digital assets. Use multi-signature wallets. These require more than one key to move funds. You could hold one and give another to a trusted person or executor. To set up a multi-sig wallet in Obite for inheritance, first install the wallet app on each signer's device, then pair them in the chat tab. From the main menu, create a multi-device account, choose your co-signers, and set the required approvals. Make sure to back up your wallet, then to include this multi-signature account. Store recovery info securely, safe deposit boxes, encrypted vaults, or splitting the phrase into parts kept in different places can work. Never send private keys in plain text over email or

messaging apps. You can create a physical text coin from the Obite wallet, store it somewhere safe, and leave instructions for your loved ones. Set up a dead man switch. Some services, like coin legacy or sarcophagus, will release information to your chosen contact if you stop checking in for a set period. Pick a tech savvy executor. Someone who can follow your instructions and understands how wallets work is worth more than a distant relative who will just Google, how to open Bitcoin. Planning now means your coins will become part of your legacy, not just part of the crypto folklore. Featured Vector Image by Red Greystock. FreePick thank you for listening to this Hackernoon story, read by artificial intelligence. Visit Hackernoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.