How to leave crypto in your will, and make it reachable

Putting crypto in a will takes a meeting with a lawyer. Making sure your family can actually reach it takes a few more steps, and only you can do those. Here they all are, in order.

I'm writing from the other side of this. My husband holds our bitcoin in self-custody, and I'm not technical. For years I nodded through his explanations, and I couldn't have done anything with it. I'm not a lawyer either. This is one part of crypto inheritance, and our full guide to bitcoin inheritance covers the other pieces.

How to leave crypto in your will: two steps, not one

Your will can say who inherits your crypto. It can't get anyone to it. Those are two different jobs, and your crypto estate plan needs both.

A professional takes care of the first. The second depends on knowledge that right now lives only in your head: which account holds what, what each screen should look like, and what a successful step looks like. Your beneficiaries may be seeing all of it for the first time.

For the full idea of the two documents, the will and the guide, see bitcoin estate planning. Here, I'll go through the steps.

If you're searching for how to leave crypto in your will, the legal side is the part most guides cover well. The rest of this article is about what comes after: the part that decides whether your beneficiaries ever see what you left them.

Step 1: list what you have

Start with a digital asset inventory. It's a short list of your digital assets that someone unfamiliar with your crypto holdings can read without you.

For each entry, include:

• A plain name your family will recognize.
• Whether it's an exchange account or a self-custodied wallet.
• What kind of crypto it is, whether that's bitcoin, Ethereum, or something else.
• Where the instructions for that entry begin.

If you use several digital wallets, give each one its own label. A hardware wallet, from makers such as Coldcard, Ledger, or Trezor, and software wallets, such as Electrum, Sparrow Wallet, or Specter, each need a plain line saying what they're for. A multi-signature wallet needs a note that it uses more than one key.

The point is that your digital assets are findable on paper. A cryptocurrency wallet that isn't on the list is one nobody will look for, and a digital wallet with a vague label is one your family may mistake for another.

Leave balances out, and leave every password and secret out. The inventory shows what exists, nothing more. Date it, and update it when you open or close an account or change a wallet.

Step 2: leave crypto in your will

Take that inventory to an estate planning attorney. They'll handle the will or trust, who inherits, and who will act as executor. Some people also name a digital executor for their digital assets. For what fits you, ask a professional where you live.

Come prepared: what you hold, who you want to receive it, and who you want to handle it. If you already have a will or a trust, bring it. Ask your estate planning attorney how cryptocurrency in a will should be described. That's their part of crypto estate planning, not yours.

Keep every seed phrase and all private keys out of the will. A will passes through many hands, and in many places it can become a public record once it goes through probate. Anyone who reads a seed phrase can move the crypto, whatever the will says.

A power of attorney is a separate document. It lets someone act for you while you're alive but unable to, and it usually ends at death. The practical steps below cover both cases.

Step 3: tell your family it exists

If nobody knows your crypto is there, nobody looks. Crypto doesn't send statements. It sits on the blockchain until someone with the keys moves it. With self-custody, there's also no company that will reach out to your heirs. Your crypto holdings are only as findable as you make them.

This conversation isn't a lesson in bitcoin. It's three facts:

• You hold crypto, and it would need attention if something happened to you.
• There's an inventory and a written guide.
• Here's where to find them.

Use the same names out loud that you use on paper. If you call something one thing at dinner and another in the guide, your family has to work out whether they're the same.

For years, I knew our bitcoin existed. Knowing is a start, and it isn't enough on its own.

Step 4: write the guide, without secrets

The guide is a letter of instruction for the person who would actually do the work. Write it in her words, one action per step, with a check after each one.

Our instructions contain no secrets. They say where everything is, and how to check each step as you go. The seed phrase, the recovery phrase if you call it that, and every private key stay out of it.

For each exchange account or self-custodied wallet, the guide should say:

1. What this part covers.
2. What she needs before she starts.
3. What to do next, one action at a time.
4. What she should see after each action.
5. When to stop and get help.

An exchange account usually has two-factor authentication too, so the guide should say where that device or code is, not what it is. For a self-custodied wallet, explain each term the first time it appears. "Open the wallet" means nothing to someone who has never done it.

Hardware wallets need their own steps: what the device is, where it is, and how she knows it's the right one. The private key stays on the device, so the letter of instruction only needs to say where the device and its backup are.

For how to write it, see how to write a bitcoin letter of instruction.

Step 5: have her test it

This is the step that proves the others. She follows the guide alone, start to finish, on the real setup, ending with a small test payment she sends herself and sees arrive.

My husband sat behind me the first time I followed his instructions alone. He wasn't allowed to help. I got stuck early. Most of it was jargon he'd never noticed he used.

Each stop ended the same way. I told him my wording, and he rewrote the step to match. Our first version took about twenty rounds. Then we simplified the setup, and the new guide took seven more rounds.

The test ended when I sent a small payment myself and saw it arrive.

We redo it once a year, and after any change to the setup or the people. That's what makes crypto in a will something your family can actually receive. It's also the step that turns a crypto estate plan into real crypto inheritance for your beneficiaries.

Frequently asked questions

Can I leave bitcoin in my will?

Yes, a will can name who inherits your bitcoin and other digital assets. A professional should draft it. Your family will also need a guide that explains how to reach it.

Should my will include my seed phrase?

No. Many people read a will, and it can become public. Anyone who reads the seed phrase can move the bitcoin. Keep it apart from the will, and let your guide say where it is.

What happens to crypto if there's no will?

The rules where you live decide who inherits. Ask a professional where you live. Either way, someone still has to be able to reach it.

Who should I name to handle my crypto?

That's a choice to make with your estate attorney. From my side, the most useful thing is that the person you name has followed your guide once, alone, while you can still fix it. The executor or trustee will need the same steps.