Matthew Mellon was a direct descendant of Thomas Mellon, founder of the Mellon Bank in 1869, patriarch of one of America’s richest dynasties.
Coming from a wealthy family, he inherited a substantial $25 million. A proportion of this, he invested early in the new asset class known as cryptocurrency, largely against his family’s wishes.
At the time of his sudden death in 2018, his initial $2 million investment had reached somewhere around $200 million. But unlike his own inheritance, accessing this one would not be as easy.
Like any other asset, crypto can be included in an estate and left in a will to beneficiaries. But, unfortunately for Mellon’s successors, his crypto fortune was so well secured that, in death, it remained untouchable by anybody but himself.
The Crypto Wallet Problem
Reportedly Mellon kept his digital keys in cold storage, the details of which were kept under different names within the vaults of various banks across the US. The result? It was seemingly lost forever.
For even though his crypto hoard resides still on the blockchain, without private keys it is untransferable.
Mellon’s case may be a high-profile one, but there are countless like it. Each case is responsible for adding a financial sting, at an already painful time, for those left behind.
Huge amounts of crypto are lost not just from a lack of legacy provision, but when passwords and private keys are mislaid. The result is that around 20% of the total supply of Bitcoin alone is currently lost or unspendable. At the time of writing, that equates to $90 billion worth.
Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange, recently outlined the problem. "Today most people cannot store their private keys securely. The wallets require them to be technical,” he said.
“You have to have a backup. That backup needs to be encrypted,” he explained. “Most people don't know how to do that properly. If you have an encrypted backup, [it’s then] okay if you lose your computer. But eventually, we die.
“What if you're not around? How do you give that to your kids? How do you make sure your kids don't get that before you die? That problem's not solved.”
According to CZ, these issues represent the main hindrance to the mass adoption of the whole burgeoning sector of decentralized finance and all the potential benefits for consumers therein.
Until these problems are adequately addressed, the whole sector is at a disadvantage to the traditional world of finance, where central bodies act as trusted custodians of wealth without any need to remember access details, providing a well-tested legacy provision at death.
Never Lose Access to Your Crypto
“The digital environment is still a fresh concept in the money world, and blockchain logic is even newer,” explains Greta Sapkaite, co-founder of Recovery Crypto. “Losing access to the digital wallet can be an alarming prospect, given the ‘no seed phrase - no access’ blockchain logic.”
Co-Founder assures, “Our clients can sleep well, knowing they will recover funds no matter what life throws at them.”
The system employs algorithms and smart contracts built according to the principles of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
With Recovery Crypto, crypto holders appoint trusted validators who can restore access to their assets in the event that keys or passwords are mislaid.
Part of the whole appeal of crypto - its decentralized existence and strong privacy - brings also a downside.
Therefore, if not using a service such as Recovery Crypto, it is crucial to safely store wallet details and to find some way of ensuring that beneficiaries have access to all the necessary information in the event of one’s death.
Crypto Inheritance Planning
The current infrastructure of all non-decentralized wallets does not include a facility for passing heritage to family and other successors. Custodial wallets offered by crypto exchanges are not much better.
While exchange wallets might feature a heritage structure, users are not in control of their private keys. In the event of a security breach, or exchange collapse, funds can be lost.
Some who do not sufficiently trust the custodianship of a crypto exchange may find a solution to the legacy problem in the traditional financial world.
Though they might opt to act as their own custodian, they might balance this independence with the use of a bank as executor of their will or a lawyer, if preferred.
For many crypto enthusiasts, though, this betrays the whole privacy and decentralization principle.
Even if a user leaves their details with a third party, like a bank or lawyer, to act as executor of crypto funds, they may still not be so simple to retrieve.
Passwords are changed regularly and usually also tied to a Two-Factor Authentication system, meaning that access to a secondary device, such as a phone, is also needed.
A Decentralized Executor Solution
He explains, “Blockchain Testament builds on the core principles of blockchain decentralization, Web 3.0, providing an unconditional opportunity for crypto wallet owners to ensure the automatic transfer of assets after death.”
The testament is a valid legal document, executed within the blockchain. Such a solution will of course appeal to crypto holders who also appreciate the asset class for its celebrated privacy and decentralized characteristics.
As with Recovery Crypto, Blockchain Testament also employs a DAO to facilitate the process, pre-authorized by the user, acting as a technologically mediated executor. At any time, one’s appointed trustees can vote in the DAO to testify of one’s death.
Additionally, as a failsafe against fraud, there is a 180-day period before funds are transferred, during which the “I am alive” button can be activated to halt the process.
According to a 2020
Naturally, younger crypto holders are particularly susceptible to this oversight.
In such a developing asset class as crypto, valuable wealth will continue to go astray, due to poor custodianship, leading to lost access, and a lack of legacy provision.
Thankfully, at least, the solutions are finally arriving, where you have to trust no one, just the audited, decentralized smart contracts.