When we sign up for a Steem account, download a new crypto wallet, or start trading our first fraction of Bitcoin we learn 'the rules of the game': Write down your keys! Keep your pass phrase safe! Don't forget: your crypto is only yours when YOU hold the keys!
So we try as best as we can to make safe copies of our keys and find smart ways to never ever lose access to our wallets. Where 'keeping your passwords in the cloud' as opposed to 'written on a post-it note' seemed like a great idea for all the 'old-skool' accounts we have created over the years, now making sure to keep your information offline seems to be the best way to handle it all. And so an evolution starts: hardware crypto wallets, paper wallets, and safe quadruple verified authentication software are your new access to your hard-earned or smartly traded crypto.

And it's hard to keep up with all of this, right? As long as it's one wallet, it's all fine, but how do you keep in mind all the ways you access your several wallets, keys, and do you even remember how you stored that alt-coin you mined 2 years ago?

Fiat is easy

Fiat is easy. You store it on a bank account, the tax collectors know which accounts are yours, end when you pass away your countries' laws have automatic processes in place that will assign your Fiat to the rightful new owners: parents, a registered partner, maybe a caretaker if you made that clear in a will.

But what happens to your crypto after you die? Depending on the country you live in, there are not even clear rules yet on what kind and amount of taxes you pay on your crypto holdings - let alone who receives those holdings after you die. And if we at some point figure out who will receive what, then... HOW are they going to receive it? Because - which of your loved ones even knows what coins you hold, are mining, have been staking, are earning dividends on, or trade/have as an 'open order' on some exchange? Who of your loved ones know where you stored your keys? Which web addresses or software on your laptop or mobile phone even give access to the screen where you type in all that information? What about your MetaMask wallet? How about your Powered Up STEEM? How do they know, if you yourself don't even have automated all these processes for yourself? Oh, and will they ever now where to find and access your hardware wallet? (Also known as: What's that weird black USB stick for?)

The point is, the crypto space is still so young many solutions still have to be invented. Many processes are not yet automated. And what happens to your crypto after you die is certainly one thinking point that many have not found or implemented a solution for.

I personally feel like I hold some serious stake in a few coins now. If I die tomorrow, what would I want to be taken care of? From the top of my head:

My boyfriend, even though he is not my legal partner, should become the owner of all my crypto holdings
He should be informed on the possible decisions he could make on these crypto holdings (in the case of STEEM: keep it Powered Up, Power Down, delegate it to some sort of fund, transfer it to Fiat)
He should be able to receive and use my keys, pass phrases and a 'route map' through all the wallets, exchanges and other crypto related services I have used in the past
Maybe I would want to set up wallets assigned to different people in my life, and route holdings according to a pre-defined percentage to these wallets, which then can be accessed by these people with their own keys?

I probably have many blind spots on this subject. A sparring partner and someone who could arrange all of the above would be very much welcome. But where to start? Who to trust? And will it cost (a lot of) money to get all of the above arranged? Is it possibly to be in control on this whole process myself? Could I be quickly and easily changing and adding some of the 'rules' of my own testament? Is there a template with a standard will that already makes sure 'the basics' are covered, so I can be assured while figuring out how to include the more exclusive wishes in the testament?

Introducing Eternitas

Eternitas performed a Live Twitter Pitch this afternoon. The Eternitas CEO, Milosz Matuschek pitched to Carsten Maschmeyer, a very famous investor in Germany, to compete against 6 other projects this week for possible investment.

According to the Eternitas.io website:

We let you create a last will online, store it safely on the blockchain and let you take care of the distribution of your assets after you die.

“Is it selling software? Is it blockchain, smart contracts or crypto? It´s autonomy. Innovation is about changing the way we look at things. Wills have been around for thousands of years and never really changed at its core. With eternitas we want to give autonomy back to the individual when it lacks the most: at the moment of death. Why leave your will in the hands of others if you can keep it in your own hands?”

Screen Shot 20190120 at 23.58.53.png
[Image is a screenshot taken from eternitas.io on Sunday January 20th.]

In a Medium article Milosz Matuschek explains the following problem:

There are quite a lot problems around inheritance, starting from procrastination, expensive wills or legally void wills, forgery and destruction of wills, poor proof in case of oral wills, fraudulent collusion between heirs and will executors, dispute among heirs about the „true“ will etc…

(I certainly recognize the procrastination part...) The main solutions they are working on right now:

a register for wills on the blockchain (and a video based oral will solution)

legally sound last wills and donations through easy to use templates

automatized distribution through Ricardian contracts.

This seems to be covering a lot of questions I posed in the beginning of the article already. Basically they Eternitas wants you to be able to be in full control over your own testament. They can come digitally for the young generation, on paper for the older generation, and both crypto and non-crypto assets (in tokenized form) will be able to be included in the will. There will be an 'automatic distribution' of the assets included in your will by setting the rules under which it activates.

[From tweet by m_matuschek]

The cost of all this will be a fraction of what you'd pay a notary/lawyer, the testament would be recorded on a Blockchain providing trust and certainty it will still exist and be readable in decades of time, and for me it would mean a lot if I could arrange something that I could easily postpone for years from home, on my terms, and make changes if needed as well.

Conclusion

The format presented by Eternitas.io is probably a huge advancement on how we've arranged last wills and testaments thus far. Blockchain can provide trust, timestamps and give you ultimate control over your last will, removing the need for external parties that might not be there anymore when you actually need them, plus it ads the advantage you can arrange your affairs from home. Eternitas.io is a for profit company, leveraging blockchain technology and providing you with the tools you need. There are a few competitors in this field, like safehaven.io, mywill.io, digipulse.io and many others, which I have not looked into yet, but I'm looking forward to do so and hopefully take the plunge and finally arrange my crypto will. I'm looking forward to see how Eternitas will work out all the details, and for me this all is a starting point to figure out how I will arrange my crypto affairs.

How about you: did you arrange your crypto affairs already? If yes, how? If no, what would be your ideal solution to this? What questions do you have for companies that arrange your will on a blockchain?

Did you create a testament for your crypto holdings yet?

Fiat is easy

The point is, the crypto space is still so young many solutions still have to be invented. Many processes are not yet automated. And what happens to your crypto after you die is certainly one thinking point that many have not found or implemented a solution for.

Introducing Eternitas

Conclusion

How about you: did you arrange your crypto affairs already? If yes, how? If no, what would be your ideal solution to this? What questions do you have for companies that arrange your will on a blockchain?

Further reading