How to Plan Crypto Inheritance

How to make sure heirs can actually access your crypto — seed phrase custody, multisig inheritance services (Casa, Unchained), will language, and the US step-up basis rule.

Updated August 2026 · Reviewed by the PipeFlare team

Crypto inheritance planning is the set of steps — seed phrase custody, multisig or inheritance-specific vaults, will language, and tax planning — that lets heirs actually access your crypto after death

Crypto without an inheritance plan is often lost forever — no company can reset the password, and courts cannot recover coins whose keys nobody has

About crypto inheritance planning

Crypto without an inheritance plan is often lost forever. There is no bank to call, no password reset, and no court order that can recreate a private key. If nobody can access your seed phrase after you die, the coins stay on the blockchain and never move again. Planning ahead is the difference between an heir inheriting a working wallet and inheriting a permanently unreachable address. This page covers the four main mechanisms — direct seed phrase custody, multisig inheritance products, will language, and tax treatment — with an emphasis on real, established products rather than obscure services that themselves become a single point of failure.

How it actually works

There are four practical layers to a crypto inheritance plan. First is seed phrase custody: the 12- or 24-word BIP-39 recovery phrase (or 24-word passphrase for hardware wallets) is what an heir ultimately needs, and the two mainstream storage approaches are a paper or metal backup kept in a physically secure location (a home safe, a bank safe-deposit box, or split across trusted locations) and, less commonly, an encrypted digital backup — each with different threat models (fire and water for paper, third-party access for a bank box, malware and forgotten passwords for digital). Metal backup products like Cryptosteel Capsule, Blockplate, and Ledger's own metal seed backups are designed specifically to survive fire and flooding that would destroy paper. Second is multisig, which splits control across multiple keys so no single lost or stolen device wipes out the estate. Casa (keys.casa) and Unchained (unchained.com) are the two most established US-based multisig providers with explicit inheritance features — Casa Inheritance and Unchained's inheritance protocol both let a client designate beneficiaries who can request access after a documented death event, with the provider holding one key of a multi-key setup as a recovery anchor. Third is legal integration: a will should reference the existence of crypto assets and identify where the recovery instructions live (in a sealed envelope with the executor, in a safe-deposit box, with the multisig provider), without ever containing the seed phrase itself, since a probated will becomes a public record in most jurisdictions. Estate-planning attorneys increasingly draft crypto-specific clauses; the American Bar Association and state bar associations have published guidance on the pattern. Fourth is tax: in the United States, IRS Publication 551 and Internal Revenue Code Section 1014 provide that inherited property receives a "step-up in basis" to its fair market value on the decedent's date of death, meaning heirs pay capital gains tax only on any appreciation after inheritance rather than the full lifetime gain. Crypto is treated as property by the IRS (per Notice 2014-21) and is subject to the same step-up rule — a genuinely significant tax benefit for long-held positions. Other jurisdictions apply different rules, and this is general information rather than tax advice; a tax professional familiar with your jurisdiction should confirm treatment for your specific situation.

Start here

1Write your recovery phrase on paper, then transfer it to a metal backup product (Cryptosteel Capsule, Blockplate, or equivalent) designed to survive fire and water — a paper backup alone is fragile.
2Decide on a physical storage plan — a home safe, a bank safe-deposit box, or splitting a backup across two trusted locations — and document its location in your estate paperwork without recording the seed phrase itself.
3For larger holdings, evaluate a dedicated multisig inheritance product like Casa Inheritance or Unchained's inheritance protocol, which builds beneficiary access into the wallet structure rather than relying on a single seed backup.
4Reference the existence of crypto assets in your will and provide the executor a documented location for the recovery instructions — never put the actual seed phrase in the will, since a probated will typically becomes public record.
5Ask a tax professional to confirm how inherited crypto is treated in your jurisdiction — in the US, IRC §1014 provides a step-up in basis to fair market value at date of death, which can materially reduce heirs' eventual tax bill on long-held coins.

Strengths

Multisig inheritance products (Casa, Unchained) provide a structured beneficiary access process backed by a real company, rather than depending on an heir finding and correctly using a paper backup unassisted.
In the United States, the step-up in basis under IRC §1014 typically resets an inherited coin's cost basis to fair market value at date of death, potentially saving heirs significant capital gains tax on long-held positions.
A metal seed backup stored in a physically secure location is a simple, low-cost, tech-independent plan that does not depend on any third party remaining in business.

Common misunderstandings

"Dead man's switch" services that automatically release private keys after inactivity introduce a live custody point of failure and, if they shut down, silently break the entire plan — most estate-planning attorneys and long-term Bitcoiners advise against them for anything meaningful.
Putting a seed phrase in a will is a common and serious mistake — a probated will is generally a public court record, meaning the estate can be drained before the heir ever sees it.
Bank safe-deposit boxes have real limitations for crypto backups — access is not guaranteed after a death event and can be sealed by court order in some jurisdictions, so a box should almost never be the only copy.

Common questions

What happens to my crypto if I die without a plan?

In practice, the coins stay on the blockchain and never move again. There is no bank or exchange support to call for a self-custody wallet, no password reset, and no court order that can recreate the private key from nothing. Estimates of "lost" Bitcoin — coins whose keys are unreachable, including many from deceased owners — run into the millions of BTC, though the exact figure is inherently unmeasurable.

Should I put my seed phrase in my will?

No — this is one of the most common serious mistakes in crypto estate planning. A probated will typically becomes a public court record in most jurisdictions, meaning anyone can read it once probate opens, and the estate can be drained long before the intended heir sees a copy. Reference the existence of the crypto and where the recovery instructions live, but never put the seed phrase itself in the will.

What are Casa Covenant and Unchained's inheritance protocol?

Casa (keys.casa) and Unchained (unchained.com) are the two most established US-based Bitcoin multisig providers with explicit inheritance features. Both products let a client designate beneficiaries in advance; when a documented death event is verified, the provider assists the beneficiary in accessing the multisig wallet using the recovery keys the client had set up. The structure is designed so that the provider alone cannot access the funds during the client's lifetime, but can help a legitimate heir after death.

How is inherited crypto taxed in the US?

In the United States, IRS Publication 551 and Internal Revenue Code Section 1014 provide that inherited property generally receives a "step-up in basis" to its fair market value on the decedent's date of death, so an heir who later sells owes capital gains tax only on appreciation from that date onward rather than on the full lifetime gain. Crypto is treated as property by the IRS (per Notice 2014-21) and is subject to the same rule. Estate tax may still apply for larger estates. This is general information, not tax advice — consult a tax professional familiar with your specific situation.

Are "dead man's switch" services safe to use?

Most estate-planning attorneys and long-term Bitcoiners advise against dead man's switch services for anything meaningful. These services promise to release keys or instructions after a period of user inactivity, but they add a live custody point of failure — if the service shuts down (as many crypto startups have), silently loses your data, or is compromised, the entire plan can fail without you knowing. A properly stored metal backup with a documented executor pointer, or an established multisig inheritance product, is much more resilient.

Do I need a lawyer to plan crypto inheritance?

Not strictly, but for meaningful amounts it is worth consulting an estate-planning attorney familiar with digital assets — the crypto-specific language in modern wills, the interaction with jurisdiction-specific probate rules, and the coordination with a multisig inheritance service all benefit from professional drafting. Several US state bar associations and the American Bar Association have published guidance on crypto in estate planning that attorneys can draw on.

Is a bank safe-deposit box a good place to store a seed phrase?

It can be one of two or more copies, but it should almost never be the only copy. Safe-deposit box access is not guaranteed after a death event — boxes can be sealed by court order or bank policy in many jurisdictions, and access may require presenting death certificates and going through probate before the executor can open the box. Splitting a metal backup across a home safe and a bank box, or across two trusted physical locations, is more resilient than any single-point storage plan.

Sources

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