Prepare your bitcoin for the people who come next.

Personal accounts maintained at Unchained are passed to the executor of the account holder's estate. Unchained must confirm the role of all persons involved in handling your accounts and may only assist parties who have the authority to handle the estate.

For personal accounts, the executor (referred to as a personal representative in some states) may direct the distribution of bitcoin out of the account to another Unchained vault or an external bitcoin address. Executors may also elect to receive their distribution in U.S. dollars, in which case Unchained will convert the assets and send the resulting dollars to an authorized bank account.

Retirement accounts maintained at Unchained do not pass through probate. They would instead pass pursuant to the death beneficiary designation on the retirement account itself. That process is handled through the IRA custodian; however, Unchained can continue to be your point of contact for most matters.

IRA beneficiaries who desire to roll their share of any IRA into an inherited IRA or take a distribution in bitcoin must first create an inherited IRA account at Unchained. We can assist with each beneficiary’s account onboarding and will extend any of our technical services at a discounted rate.

Alternatively, IRA beneficiaries may elect to receive their share in U.S. dollars. For any IRA beneficiaries who choose this option, Unchained will convert their share of bitcoin to dollars and pass the resulting dollars to the IRA Custodian. The custodian will then distribute the dollars to the beneficiary.

No. A Power of Attorney designating someone to act on behalf of an account owner is only valid during that account owner’s lifetime. The power to act ends with the account owner's death.

A death certificate gives Unchained the information needed to verify the customer’s passing, as well as the identity and legal residence of your loved one. Additional documentation may be needed to show a person has the authority to receive account information or make decisions regarding your loved one’s bitcoin.

A certified copy of the death certificate is generally available from the funeral director who handled the decedent’s funeral arrangements or from the vital statistics office in the city, county, or state of death. Proof of appointment as executor or personal representative is typically obtained from the probate office in the decedent’s county of residence, or alternatively from a court in some jurisdictions. This proof is often called a Letter Testamentary or a Short Certificate.

The process for executors can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on the type of the account, the complexity of the estate, and the availability of the necessary documents.