Bitcoin letter of instruction: how to write one without putting secrets in it

If you hold your family's bitcoin, you've probably thought about writing down what to do if something happens to you. I'm writing from the other side, as the wife who had to follow those instructions.

My husband holds our bitcoin in self-custody, so no company can help us get it back. For years, he "explained" it to me. I nodded along. If something had happened to him, I could not have done anything with it. What changed that was a bitcoin letter of instruction: steps I could follow on my own, with none of the secrets in it. It's one part of a bitcoin inheritance plan, and our full guide to bitcoin inheritance covers the rest.

What a bitcoin letter of instruction is

A letter of instruction (some people call it an instruction letter) is a plain document that explains how your heirs can reach your bitcoin and what to do with it. It's practical, not legal. It's written for whoever will actually do the steps: a partner, an executor, or a trustee. It names the items they will need, says where each one is, and walks the reader through the steps in order, with a way to check each stage before moving on.

The first page matters most. Whoever opens it may be having the worst week of their life. Ours starts by saying there's no rush: nothing expires, and the slow, careful way is the right way.

How it differs from a will

A will, or a trust, says who inherits your digital assets. A letter of instruction says how to get to them. Bitcoin estate planning needs both. With self-custody bitcoin, nobody can reset a password for your family, so a will alone doesn't help anyone open a wallet. A will is also the wrong place for anything secret: in many places it goes through probate and can become a public record.

The same goes for a beneficiary designation on an exchange account. It says who should receive that account, but it does nothing for self-custodied bitcoin. For questions about your will, a trust, or your estate plan, ask an estate attorney where you live.

"Writing it down defeats the point," and why it doesn't

You've probably thought this. My husband did too. It's only true if the secrets are on the page. They don't have to be.

Two layers: the instructions and the secrets

Our letter says where things are and what to do with them. The secrets live elsewhere, and the letter only says where to find them and how to check they were used correctly. Someone who finds the letter learns how the process works, not how to get in.

Keep the letter private anyway. Make sure the places it points to can only be opened by the right people, and that no single place holds everything. If one of them is a safe-deposit box, find out who can open it after you're gone.

Your executor, trustee, or any other fiduciary handling your estate and its digital assets should know the letter exists, even if they never see the secrets.

What never goes in it

• The seed phrase (the recovery words that can rebuild the self-custody wallet).
• The passphrase, if your setup uses one.
• The PIN that unlocks the hardware wallet, if there is one.
• Private keys, and photos or copies of any of the above.

With a passphrase, every character matters. A different passphrase opens a different, empty wallet (that's how the BIP-39 standard works). So the letter should say how the reader can tell it was typed correctly, without ever saying what it is. There's more on that in how to pass on a passphrase.

What goes in it

Where everything is, in plain words, with a photo

Give each item one name and use exactly that name every time. Put a photo of the actual item beside it, never the side with anything secret on it, so the reader knows what they're looking for. If your setup has several parts, add a simple diagram of how they fit together. The diagram was the moment it clicked for me.

An explanation before every action

Every step in ours starts with one sentence about why, then one action. "You are connecting the hardware wallet so the program can see it." Then: "Plug the hardware wallet into the computer." One action per step means that if I stop halfway, I know exactly where to start again.

Define every word the first time it appears. My husband didn't notice how many of his words were jargon until I got stuck on them. I thought a wallet was something you could hold.

What you should see, and a checkpoint after each stage

After each action, describe what the screen should show. After each stage, add a checkpoint the reader can verify alone. In ours, I compare the last few characters of an address against a sheet, which tells me I'm in the right wallet.

That check identifies a wallet. It never confirms where you're sending. When the letter gets to sending, the reader compares the full receiving address on the device's own screen, character by character, before approving anything.

Mark the moments a secret is typed

In ours, the secret words are printed in red everywhere they appear. It meant I never once forgot which things mattered most. The letter also says exactly where each secret is typed and where it never is: not into a website, not into a message, and not for anyone who contacts you offering help.

When to stop, and who to call

Put a stop line next to anything unexpected: a screen that doesn't match, a PIN that doesn't work, a missing item. Ours sends me to a short "if something goes wrong" page. It also names one person I can call who knows the letter exists and can help me read it, but who knows none of the secrets.

How you know it works: watch them follow it

A letter nobody has followed is a draft, and so is a bitcoin inheritance plan nobody has tested. The first time I followed ours alone, my husband sat behind me and wasn't allowed to help. I got stuck early.

Sit behind them and stay quiet

Hand over the printed letter and the real items. Sit where you can see, and say nothing. Write down every pause and every wrong turn. Agree on the limits before you start: any step that moves bitcoin moves only a small test amount, and nobody reads a secret out loud.

Rewrite every sticking point in their words

Each time I got stuck, I told my husband how I would have worded the step, and he rewrote it in my words. Then we started again from the top. Our first version took about twenty rounds. After we simplified our setup, the new one took seven more. Repeat until the reader finishes without a single hint.

End with a small test payment

The last step of our rehearsal is me sending a small amount myself and watching it arrive. Until then, we were both just assuming I could.

Do it again every year

Put the date on the cover. Rehearse again once a year, and after any change to the setup, the places, or the people. Destroy the old copies when you print a new one. My husband also followed ours himself, to the letter, in case he's ever the one who forgets. A typical estate planning checklist stops at "write a letter of instruction." Our bitcoin inheritance checklist goes further and covers what to recheck.

The letter is finished when they've used it

A will is the legal half of a bitcoin estate plan. The letter is the practical half. A good bitcoin letter of instruction keeps the secrets off the page, explains every step to the person who'll take it, and has already been followed by that person, start to finish. It's been tested by the one person it was written for.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a bitcoin letter of instruction template I can adapt?

A good instruction letter has a calm first page, a list of the items with photos, numbered steps with a checkpoint after each stage, an "if something goes wrong" page, a helper's name, and a date on the cover.

What if my spouse doesn't understand bitcoin?

That was me. I didn't need to understand bitcoin. I needed steps written in words I knew, a picture of each item, and a few rounds of practice while my husband watched without helping.

Does my executor need my PIN now?

That depends on your setup and who you trust, and an estate attorney can help you think it through. Either way, the letter says where the PIN is, never what it is.

Does this work with any kind of bitcoin custody?

Yes. Whether your heirs will face one hardware wallet or a setup with several hardware wallets and keys, the letter does the same job: where things are, what to do, and how to check. More pieces means more steps, so test it the same way.