Every other asset in an estate can be recovered by a fiduciary with the right paperwork. Cryptocurrency in a self custodied wallet cannot. Whoever holds the private key controls the asset, and if nobody holds it the asset is gone; industry estimates put a substantial share of all bitcoin as permanently inaccessible. For most assets the planning question is who gets it. For digital assets the first question is whether anyone will be able to get it at all.
The plan has four parts. An inventory of every coin, wallet, exchange account, NFT and staked position. Access instructions kept out of the Will, which becomes public in probate, and stored securely with the Will pointing to them, possibly through a multisignature wallet that spreads control. Express authority for the executor, trustee and agent under the state's fiduciary access to digital assets act, with a trust as the better holding vehicle for privacy and competent management. And tax: the Service treats crypto as property, it is included in the estate at date of death value with a stepped up basis, and broker reporting on Form 1099-DA began with 2025 transactions. Review the inventory annually. With cryptocurrency, you are the only one who can build the path for the people you leave behind.
The full piece is at turnipseed.law.
