Your Crypto Assets Could Die With You

Where is your crypto password, and does your family know how to find it? If there is any hesitation in answering, you are currently facing a significant estate planning failure. This is not a theoretical problem for the future; it is a reality that is locking heirs out of millions of dollars today. Scott Bishop, Co-founder of Presidio Wealth Partners, notes that many investors create assets that are inheritable in theory but completely unreachable in practice. He has witnessed seven-figure holdings vanish permanently, not due to theft or market crashes, but simply because the access codes were lost with the owner.

The Unique Risks of Blockchain Technology
Cryptocurrency differs fundamentally from traditional financial assets like bank accounts, 401(k) plans, or brokerage accounts. Traditional institutions have customer service lines, administrators, and recovery processes to assist heirs. Crypto has no such safety net. If a private key—typically a string of 12 or 24 words—is lost, the money is gone forever. Dmitry Tokarev, Founder of Bron, emphasizes that no court order, lawyer, or amount of legal authority can override the mathematics of a blockchain. If your family does not have those specific words, they have absolutely no course of action to recover the funds.

The Scale of Potential Loss for NRI Families
The stakes are incredibly high, with 37% of US baby boomers now holding crypto as part of the $124 trillion expected to transfer to heirs over the next two decades. For Non-Resident Indian (NRI) families managing a complex web of US accounts, Indian demat accounts, and foreign bank wallets, the risks are compounded. Crypto is often the most invisible and irreversible link in this chain. Millions of coins have already been lost to forgotten passwords, making it a “stacked” problem for those with international interests.

Five Essential Steps to Protect Your Legacy
To prevent your quietly built wealth from disappearing just as quietly, experts recommend five immediate actions. First, list every wallet and exchange account, detailing the platform and type, but without writing the actual passwords. Instead, document a secure method for retrieving them. Second, store your seed phrase physically and safely—somewhere fireproof and offline—rather than on a phone or in an email. Third, update your will to explicitly include digital assets; many wills written before 2020 lack the specific language required to give executors the legal authority to manage crypto.

Ensuring Continuity Across Borders
The final steps involve communication and specialized planning. You should tell at least one trusted person—whether a family member, attorney, or CPA—not the password itself, but the roadmap to finding it. For NRI families, it is vital to address Indian crypto holdings separately. Assets on Indian exchanges operate under different regulatory requirements and access rules, meaning a US estate plan may not automatically cover them. As the final act of protecting what you have earned, a comprehensive estate plan ensures your wealth survives for the next generation.

• By Shiva Duvvuru, CPA and Founder of Tax Circle Inc.,