Planning for the Future: How to Account for Cryptocurrency in Your Will

March 2025

When planning what you would like to happen to your estate in the future, you’ll need to consider everything that makes up that estate. This will no doubt include traditional assets such as property, bank accounts, art, jewellery, collectibles and stocks. However, today’s estates often incorporate more dynamic digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies can be very valuable, so you will no doubt want to ensure that any assets you own in this area are properly accounted for in your estate plans.

Why do you need to make special arrangements for cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital currency that exist outside of traditional banks and building societies. They sit within blockchain technology, stored in various kinds of digital wallets. These can be online or offline and have various levels of security attached, but are all typically accessed with a complex passkey. These passkeys consist of long strings of letters and numbers.

Though – technically speaking – cryptocurrencies form part of an individual’s estate and should be treated the same as any other type of asset in the process of administering a Will, they do create a unique challenge.

There is very little legal framework in this area, which means that it is near impossible to claim any legal ownership over cryptocurrencies you no longer have access to. This means that if you lose access to the digital wallet it is stored in (whether that’s due to losing physical hardware or forgetting a passkey), then your access to that cryptocurrency is essentially lost.

The nature of the difficulty of accessing an individual’s cryptocurrency makes it vital to ensure that you have a comprehensive plan in place for how you would wish these digital assets to be managed in the event that you were no longer able to do so yourself.

It’s also important to consider that the lack of legal framework around cryptocurrencies can leave these kinds of assets more vulnerable to legal estate challenges.

How can you include cryptocurrencies in your Will?

Will writing may be a process that has existed for hundreds of years, but that’s not to say it hasn’t kept up with the times. Many specialist private client solicitors, including ourselves, have vast experience in including cryptocurrencies in wills.

It is important to ensure that your cryptocurrency assets are specifically mentioned in your Will, along with clear instructions for what you would wish to happen to them. You may wish to consider appointing an executor who has experience in this area to help manage your cryptocurrency holdings. Your solicitor will be able to advise you on the best way to do this: it may be possible to appoint a specific ‘digital’ executor to handle these assets alongside your main executors.

In addition to mentioning cryptocurrency in your Will itself, it’s also advisable to put together an additional document regarding your cryptocurrency holdings. This should include full documentation of what you own and where it is stored. You will also want to detail how you wish your executors to access digital wallets, such as whether you have set up a ‘dead man’s switch’ service that will automatically release access keys to designated representatives in the event of your death.

Leaving extensive guidance for your executors – and ensuring it is stored alongside your Will – helps to reduce the likelihood of issues during the estate administration process. 

Finally, it’s important to consider the fact that cryptocurrency markets can be volatile. As the value can fluctuate very quickly, it can be difficult to assess the exact value of crypto assets at the time of death. This is something you will need to consider carefully as part of your estate and tax planning preparations.

Should you consider cryptocurrency assets in other legal documents?

If you have other legal documents in place for the future, it might be appropriate to consider including your wishes for your cryptocurrency in those documents. For example, if you have a financial Lasting Power of Attorney, you could consider using it to set out how you would wish your cryptocurrency interests to be managed on your behalf if you were no longer able to.

If you’re not sure how to ensure that your estate plans properly account for digital assets such as cryptocurrency, please get in touch. Our experienced solicitors will be able to advise you on how to effectively plan for the future.