What happens to my cryptocurrency and online accounts when I die?
Short answer
Crypto is property and passes under your will — but only if your executor can reach the wallet, and there is no password reset. Most online accounts are licences that end on death and cannot be left to anyone; use each platform’s legacy tool instead.
There is no single statute on digital assets in English law, so the first job is to sort your digital estate into the categories the law actually recognises.
What you own and what you merely licence
- Cryptocurrency and tokens are property, confirmed in AA v Persons Unknown [2019], and pass by will or intestacy like any other chattel.
- Files on your own devices pass with the device as part of the estate.
- Intellectual property — copyright, trade marks, domain names — is property and can be left by will. Copyright in your own writing and photographs lasts 70 years after death.
- Cloud accounts and social media are usually personal licences that end on death. You cannot leave the account itself to anyone.
- Loyalty points and air miles are generally personal and non-transferable, though some schemes will transfer on request.
The key-custody problem, and the tools that solve it
Crypto in self-custody is recoverable only by someone holding the seed phrase or private key. There is no recovery route, so a will alone is worthless: without an access plan the asset is simply lost. Use two layers. The will identifies the crypto, names a beneficiary or directs sale, and gives the executor express power to engage a recovery specialist. A separate access plan — held by your solicitor, in a safety deposit box, or with a key-management service — records where the wallet is and how to reach it, ideally with the seed phrase split across locations.
Never write a seed phrase in the will. A will becomes a public document once probate is granted, and anyone reading it could empty the wallet before your executor gets there. Crypto held on an exchange is far easier: the executor produces probate and a death certificate through the bereavement process.
For accounts, set up the platform tools in life rather than trying to override them in death: Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, Meta's Legacy Contact, and Microsoft's next-of-kin process each give a named person defined access. The will should refer to those tools and to a letter of wishes, with the actual access details kept in a memorandum outside the public probate file and reviewed at least annually.
Remember the tax. HMRC treats crypto as property valued in sterling at the date of death, and it can push an estate over the nil-rate band far more easily than families expect.
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