Dear friends,
Cryptocurrency and digital financial assets present unique challenges in legacy planning because they combine irreversible security measures with complete dependence on credential access. Unlike traditional financial institutions that can work with estate executors, blockchain assets are permanently inaccessible without proper keys and credentials.
Billions of dollars in cryptocurrency have been permanently lost due to inadequate legacy planning. When someone dies without sharing wallet credentials, seed phrases, or hardware wallet access information, those assets become irrecoverable. No customer service department can help, no court order can retrieve them, and no technical workaround exists.
The main challenges include cryptocurrency transactions across multiple wallets and exchanges are difficult to consolidate, cost basis tracking requires matching buys and sells across years of complex defi interactions, and exchanges may not provide complete historical data or may shut down, losing records. These security features that protect assets during life become absolute barriers after death without proper planning.
DeathNote provides secure, encrypted storage for seed phrases, private keys, wallet passwords, and exchange credentials. You can document complex security setups like multi-signature wallets, hardware wallet PINs, and recovery processes while ensuring this sensitive information only reaches designated beneficiaries after proper verification.
The stakes are particularly high with cryptocurrency because mistakes are permanent. Take time to document every wallet, every seed phrase, every security layer. Test your recovery process while you're alive to ensure your beneficiaries can actually access what you intend to leave them.
Platform Overview
Primary Use
Tax compliance, estate valuation, cost basis documentation, capital gains reporting
Account Types
Exchange tax forms (1099-B, 1099-MISC), wallet transaction exports, DeFi protocol records, mining logs
Data Types
Transaction history, cost basis, acquisition dates, fair market values, exchange reports, staking income
Access Challenges
- Cryptocurrency transactions across multiple wallets and exchanges are difficult to consolidate
- Cost basis tracking requires matching buys and sells across years of complex DeFi interactions
- Exchanges may not provide complete historical data or may shut down, losing records
- Step-up basis at death requires accurate valuation at exact time of death across all holdings
- DeFi transactions generate hundreds or thousands of taxable events that are complex to categorize