Owner death — software wallet (2021)

Survives

Case description

A February 2021 estate case involved a deceased who had been an early employee at a technology startup paid partly in Bitcoin. The Bitcoin had been kept in a wallet created with the startup's custom wallet software that had since been discontinued. The software was open-source and a developer was hired to compile and run it against the old wallet file, successfully recovering the funds.

Custody context

Stress condition	Owner death
Custody system	Mobile or software wallet
Outcome	Survives
Documentation	Unknown
Year observed	2021
Country	Unknown

Structural dependencies observed

Third-party platform dependencySingle point of failure

Outcome interpretation

Access remained possible under the reported conditions.

Source

Publicly Reported

Evidence type

Forum post

Evidence link

https://medium.com/@wayne_huang/rsa-2015-panel-bitcoin-s-future-threats-expert-s-roundtable-based-on-150-case-studies-92cc35e68e30

Related cases involving owner death

119 cases involve owner death 572 cases involve mobile or software wallet View archive statistics →

This archive documents observed custody survivability failures. It does not attempt to document all Bitcoin losses or security incidents. Submit a case

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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.