Let's Talk—Have You Planned For Your Cryptocurrency Legal Heir?
I understand for many of us it's not a subject we're often comfortable discussing, but let's face it we're all going to die! It's just a matter of time. But the fact is that the only certainty in life is... death!
Before you scream out saying Cryonics FTW, we're not quite there yet! Besides, most of us won't have access to such systems even if it were available for use in the mainstream.
I went through a near-fatal accident a year ago. Ever since this subject remained in the back of my head until on a call with a friend who mentioned yesterday that she retains a copy of her Steemit keys with her brother and vice versa and suddenly I had this realisation that I haven't planned for this scenario myself.
I have a sizeable savings in cryptocurrencies and this results in wallets, keys, passwords and PINs. There are exchange passwords, 2FA and email accounts. How do you relay this across to your family, especially the ones you can trust but are total noobs when it comes to understanding the complexities of transacting in this space.
Is there any service out there that makes all of this easy? I personally don't know. I assume this would be a sizeable market and multi-sig will and testament businesses will have a lot of work to handle if cryptocurrencies were to go mainstream. Infact it could be profitable to be in a business that gives access to your holdings and passwords should things go wrong earlier than expected.
Losing your Steemit key is bad enough but imagine losing access to your entire portfolio. Worse still, many of us earn for improving our livelihood and providing for our families. What if we pass away without ever handing over precious keys to our families? Has this thought ever occurred to you?
I'm now trying to plan for such contingencies and would love to hear from you about your strategies for such eventualities. How are you going about accomplishing these things to ensure your assets benefit your family in the event of your unexpected passing.
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I must get on this!
Yeah, but it much better,@jsteem, if we make the will regarding every important things we have that may of use.
@firepower, I couldn't agree more, although it quite baffling and edgy topic it's also a very important thing to tackle. I was having so much fun that I almost forgot this utmost thing, tho I don't hold much power(money) in steemit, I still have real-estate properties left untouched. Oh dear!! But please don't take us soon!
I to have thought of this. I plan on making a written copy of all my keys stored in a safe for my son. Hopefully by time he gets it, it will be worth fortunes to be passed down from generation to generation lol
What ive done is encrypt usbs which i continually update. Its a little bit time counsming but worth it. Also..make sure one person beside you and your spouse know the usb key. If you both die in a car crash that person (your brother sister dad uncle) can unlock the usbs. Also keep one copy in their house. But with a password they DONT know. Thats in case your house burns down(without you in it) or the location where your usb is compromised.
i saved my username and password in a pendrive and i gave that to my sister.....
Two hardware wallets, one seed. That covers the bulk of my hodlings.
My wife has her own USB flash drive with all the keys to my wallets and I have shown her how to use it so that makes here the one who will get all my coins if I leave the planet :)))
USBs do fail. Just a thought
Yup your right that is why I have 4 more USBs to which she has access too and I have printed them on a few papers and put them into ring binder with my paper wallets, bank and insurance stuff.
That is a really interesting point I had never conidered. Luckily, my brother is quite a tecky, so I could let him know how to access my various accounts, and he could do the same with me.
Thank you for this... I might not have thought about that until it is too late ;-)
Yeah it is an eye opener for sure not only for the aged steemians but also to the young ones because life is not predictable and it is not promised to anyone. We all need to leave our wealth in safe hands...and the right hands at that.
Yes you are right I agree with you and I start follow you to get more useful informations from you 😃😃
I suppose keeping both paper and digital copies of your keys would provide the most security, but, it is a valid point that the more places you have your passwords, the higher the odds are that you could have them stolen.
I think caution and being conscience of your actions is the best guard against scammers and thieves.
If a business did pop up that specialized in keeping of personal keys and passwords, I would not envy them. They would immediately have a target on their back.
You could print them and store them in a sealed envelope. What I have done is to encrypt the keys before printing it, but giving my inheritors the instructions on how to decrypt it. A person with some encryption skills would probably be able to crack it, but of course there will be no way to know that these are actually passwords/keys and not just some random stuff. It's note like I have written "STEEMIT PASSWORD" on the envelope :P
That definitely is a big worry for crypto holders.
There is talk about a new ico called Safehaven.io which still is to be launched maybe this month. As far as I know they are planning to do what you are worried about. You can nominate the person whom you want your funds to go in case you die.
https://safehaven.io/
Here is an excerpt from their whitepaper that would interest you:
"Have you ever thought about how, at any second, something could happen to you? Have you ever thought about the day your family will face life without you? What about your cryptocurrency investments? What about those difficult markets with hundreds of private keys, exchanges and wallets? Will they ever be able to recover your investment without you? Can they trust anyone who would help them without the fear of something going wrong? Yes, they can! Safe Haven provides the solution! We are building a platform on the most popular and secure block chains so that you can stop worrying about your legacy!"
I do not know if this is it, but for sure there is a need for one safe heaven.
Upvoted it so that it comes into somewhat limelight.
I have not, but it's definitely an interesting idea to nibble on.
This got me thinking