Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
Owner death
Cases in this category involve Bitcoin held by an owner who has since died. Access depended on recovery procedures, documentation, or designated individuals who were either unavailable or unaware of their role.
Owner death cases reveal the gap between legal inheritance and operational custody access. In most cases, heirs have clear legal entitlement to the Bitcoin but lack the operational knowledge required to execute recovery. The custody system functions as designed — it simply was not designed to be operated by anyone other than the original owner.
119 observed cases
Blocked
51 (43%)
Constrained
24 (20%)
Survives
38 (32%)
Indeterminate
6 (5%)
Platform bankruptcy — Celsius (2023)
Exchange custody
By mid-2023 the combined Celsius, Voyager, FTX, BlockFi, and Genesis bankruptcy proceedings had produced a distinct new problem for estate executors: multiple o
Estate access failure — Coinbase (2023)
Exchange custody
A 2023 Coinbase estate access case involved a beneficiary who held a death certificate and the deceased's government ID but could not produce a copy of the will
Platform bankruptcy — Celsius (2023)
Exchange custody
Estate executors dealing with Celsius, Voyager, FTX, or BlockFi holdings in 2023 faced a compounded custody problem: the deceased had held Bitcoin on one or mor
Hidden wallet discovered — hardware wallet (2023)
Hardware wallet (single key)
A 2023 estate case widely referenced in digital asset legal commentary involved a software engineer who had accumulated Bitcoin since 2014 and maintained a soph
Owner death — hardware wallet (2023)
Hardware wallet (single key)
A 2023 survey of estate planning attorneys specialising in digital assets found that cases of Bitcoin lost at death continued to accumulate. A common pattern in
This institutional dependency on legal process was a new form of access constraint
Exchange custody
Coinbase's 2022 estate access process required heirs to submit a death certificate, letters testamentary or letters of administration from a probate court, and
Estate access failure — hardware wallet (2022)
Hardware wallet (single key)
Estate planning attorneys documented an increase in cases in 2022 of heirs attempting to access Bitcoin wallets belonging to deceased family members. In many ca
Estate access failure — exchange custody (2022)
Exchange custody
In the UK, Bitcoin held on exchanges formed part of a deceased's digital estate but required Letters of Administration or Grant of Probate before an exchange wo
Owner death — hardware wallet (2022)
Hardware wallet (single key)
A 2022 case involved a deceased who had held Bitcoin on multiple wallets across multiple hardware devices, none of which were documented. The executor found thr
Estate access failure — exchange custody (2022)
Exchange custody
Australian exchanges including CoinSpot and Independent Reserve had established executor access protocols by 2022, but the process required submission of a cert
Owner death — hardware wallet (2022)
Hardware wallet (single key)
A 2022 estate case involved a man who had accumulated Bitcoin since 2014 and used a complex self-custody setup involving a hardware wallet, a passphrase, and a
Device discarded — hardware wallet (2022)
Hardware wallet (single key)
Chainalysis estimated in a 2022 report that approximately 3.7 million Bitcoin—roughly 17% of the total supply—was permanently lost, with owner death being one o
Owner death — Trezor (2022)
Hardware wallet (single key)
A 2022 case widely referenced in estate planning circles involved a man who had accumulated significant Bitcoin between 2015 and 2020 and died suddenly without
Estate access failure — Kraken (2022)
Exchange custody
A 2022 estate that included Bitcoin held on Kraken required the executor to submit notarized documentation, a death certificate, letters testamentary, and the a
Owner death — hardware wallet (2022)
Hardware wallet (single key)
A New Mexico estate planning attorney described in 2022 the case of a cryptocurrency investor who died in an accident at age 33 with an estimated $60 million in
A Bitcoin holder died in December 2021 near the all-time high.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder died in December 2021 near the all-time high. The family knew about their Bitcoin holdings but not their value. A blockchain forensics firm ide
The estate identified 23 different wallet addresses with total holdings estimated at
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin miner who had been operating since 2013 died in November 2021. The estate identified 23 different wallet addresses with total holdings estimated at ov
The executor applied for access in October 2021.
Exchange custody
A deceased Bitcoin holder's Coinbase account was identified by the estate through their email history. The executor applied for access in October 2021. Coinbase
A Bitcoin holder who had purchased BTC in late 2020 died suddenly in January 2021.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had purchased BTC in late 2020 died suddenly in January 2021. The estate found a hardware wallet but no seed phrase. The PIN was unknown. T
Owner death — software wallet (2021)
Mobile or software wallet
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 wa
Owner death — software wallet (2021)
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder died in May 2021 leaving a handwritten note directing the estate to a hardware wallet in a specific drawer. The note described a 25-word passph
Owner death — software wallet (2021)
Mobile or software wallet
A July 2021 estate case involved a deceased who had diversified Bitcoin across 15 different wallets on 8 different platforms. The estate spent six months assemb
A Bitcoin investor died suddenly in April 2021 near the BTC all-time high of $64,000.
Exchange custody
A Bitcoin investor died suddenly in April 2021 near the BTC all-time high of $64,000. The estate found a paper note that read 'Bitcoin account – Binance' with n
A UK Bitcoin investor died in March 2021.
Exchange custody
A UK Bitcoin investor died in March 2021. Their Kraken account had a substantial balance. The UK executor found that Kraken's estate process required original,
A long-term Bitcoin holder died in June 2021.
Mobile or software wallet
A long-term Bitcoin holder died in June 2021. The estate found four old computers and two hardware wallets. Blockchain forensics confirmed significant on-chain
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