Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-01214
Documentation absent — hardware wallet (2024)
SurvivesCase description
A 2024 estate case involved a Shamir Secret Sharing scheme where a deceased holder had split their seed phrase into three shares distributed among family members and a professional service, requiring 2-of-3 to reconstruct. One family member had misplaced their share. The professional service holding the third share had been acquired and its digital records migrated to a new platform; the migration had been incomplete and the specific share data was no longer in the new system. The remaining family member had one valid share. A data recovery firm was engaged to attempt extraction of the professional service's old records, and the share was eventually recovered from a backup server after approximately six weeks.
Custody context
| Stress condition | Documentation absent |
| Custody system | Hardware wallet (single key) |
| Outcome | Survives |
| Documentation | Unknown |
| Year observed | 2024 |
| Country | International |
Structural dependencies observed
Outcome interpretation
Access remained possible under the reported conditions.
Source
Privately Reported
Evidence type
News article
Related cases involving documentation absent
193 cases involve documentation absent
274 cases involve hardware wallet (single key)
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This archive documents observed custody survivability failures. It does not attempt to document all Bitcoin losses or security incidents.
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Framework references
Where Bitcoin Custody Intersects Legal and Fiduciary Authority
Where custody creates gaps in estate planning, fiduciary duty, and professional responsibility.
Professional Scope Boundary Matrix
What each professional or product covers, what they do not, and where gaps form between them.
The Independent Assessment Layer in Bitcoin Custody
How independent diagnostic layers emerge when multiple parties depend on shared infrastructure.
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