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%)
Gox creditor who had been waiting since 2014 for a distribution died in March 2018.
Exchange custody
A Mt. Gox creditor who had been waiting since 2014 for a distribution died in March 2018. The estate was unaware of the creditor claim's current status in the c
Estate access failure — software wallet (2018)
Mobile or software wallet
An April 2018 probate case involved a deceased who had been an early Bitcoin adopter but had stopped engaging with the community around 2014. The estate found o
Hidden wallet discovered — software wallet (2018)
Mobile or software wallet
An October 2018 estate case involved a deceased who had been a frequent poster on a Bitcoin forum. The estate found forum posts from 2012 discussing the purchas
Estate access failure — software wallet (2018)
Mobile or software wallet
A July 2018 probate case involved a digital nomad who had Bitcoin holdings distributed across three wallets on devices in three countries. The estate took eight
They had left a note saying 'Bitcoin for kids — see the email from Coinbase.'
Mobile or software wallet
An estate case from January 2018 involved a deceased who had purchased Bitcoin during the 2017 bull run specifically as an inheritance asset for their children.
A Bitcoin miner who died in May 2018 had accumulated coins since 2010.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin miner who died in May 2018 had accumulated coins since 2010. The estate found an old hard drive that blockchain analysis suggested had a wallet with s
A Bitcoin investor's estate in August 2017 included multiple hardware wallets.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor's estate in August 2017 included multiple hardware wallets. The seeds for two of the devices were located. A third device had no seed documen
A Bitcoin trader died in June 2017 leaving active margin positions on two exchanges.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin trader died in June 2017 leaving active margin positions on two exchanges. The exchanges closed the positions automatically after a set period of inac
A Coinbase account holder died in May 2017.
Exchange custody
A Coinbase account holder died in May 2017. Coinbase's estate process required a court order, a death certificate with apostille, and a notarised letter from th
Gox creditor died in October 2017 before the civil rehabilitation claim process was
Exchange custody
A Mt. Gox creditor died in October 2017 before the civil rehabilitation claim process was complete. The creditor's estate was unaware that the Mt. Gox claim was
Device discarded — software wallet (2017)
Mobile or software wallet
A January 2017 probate case involved a deceased whose estate included a paper wallet found in a filing cabinet. The wallet's private key was printed in QR code
An early Bitcoin miner died unexpectedly in February 2017.
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin miner died unexpectedly in February 2017. The estate located wallets on several old computers but the passphrases were not documented. The esta
Estate access failure — software wallet (2017)
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin adopter died in April 2017 with no estate planning that mentioned cryptocurrency. The estate found references to Bitcoin in old emails but no w
An estate case from November 2017 involved a deceased who had held Bitcoin since 2011.
Mobile or software wallet
An estate case from November 2017 involved a deceased who had held Bitcoin since 2011. The estate located seven wallet files across various old computers. Six w
Owner death — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
An estate case from December 2017 involved a deceased whose will listed 'digital assets including Bitcoin' without specifying where they were held. The estate s
Owner death — Bitfinex (2017)
Exchange custody
A Bitfinex account holder who had BFX tokens still outstanding from the 2016 hack died in September 2017. The estate discovered the BFX token redemption process
A Bitcoin investor who had held coins since 2012 died in March 2016.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor who had held coins since 2012 died in March 2016. Their will referenced 'the Bitcoin wallet in the desk drawer.' The estate found a USB drive
A Bitcoin miner who had accumulated coins since 2011 died suddenly in April 2016.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin miner who had accumulated coins since 2011 died suddenly in April 2016. The estate found multiple wallet.dat files across several old hard drives. One
Owner death — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin enthusiast who died in June 2016 had created wallets using four different applications across multiple devices. The estate's digital forensics team lo
A long-term Bitfinex account holder died shortly after the August 2016 hack.
Exchange custody
A long-term Bitfinex account holder died shortly after the August 2016 hack. Their estate found that the account had a 36% haircut applied and held BFX tokens.
Owner death — Bitfinex (2016)
Exchange custody
A Bitfinex account holder who had experienced the August 2016 hack died before completing the BFX token redemption process. Their estate was unaware of the toke
A Cryptsy creditor who had a pending bankruptcy claim died in September 2016.
Exchange custody
A Cryptsy creditor who had a pending bankruptcy claim died in September 2016. The estate was unaware that the claim existed or that there was a strict deadline
Owner death — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
An estate attorney noted a 2016 case where the deceased had referenced 'the password is where we first met' in a letter addressed to their spouse. The couple ha
Owner death — exchange custody (2016)
Exchange custody
An exchange account holder died in November 2016 whose estate included a significant BTC balance. The exchange required a court-appointed estate administrator,
Hidden wallet discovered — Bitcoin Core (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin forum participant died in January 2016 leaving behind a laptop with a Bitcoin Core installation. The executor found a note saying 'Bitcoin wall
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