Crypto has its own vocabulary and so does inheritance law. This page covers both, in plain words, with a link to the page where each term matters most. Alphabetical.
Address
A string of letters and numbers (for Bitcoin starting with bc1, 1 or 3; for Ethereum with 0x) that coins can be sent to. Public: anyone may know it and look up its balance. Not to be confused with the keys that spend from it.
Acte de notoriété
The French notarial document identifying the heirs and their shares; what exchanges ask for in France. Crypto inheritance in France.
Administrator
The person a court appoints to handle an estate when there’s no will or no executor able to act. Gets letters of administration. Same job as an executor.
BIP-39
The standard behind seed phrases: a list of 2,048 English words and the rules for turning 12 or 24 of them into a wallet. Almost every wallet uses it, which is why a seed from one device can be restored on another. Passphrases are part of the same standard.
Blockchain explorer
A website that shows every transaction and balance on a blockchain, by address. Safe to use with an address, never with a seed phrase. Examples: mempool.space for Bitcoin, etherscan.io for Ethereum. Finding crypto.
Cold storage
Keys kept on a device that never connects to the internet, usually a hardware wallet. The opposite of a hot wallet on a phone or computer.
Collaborative custody
A multisig wallet in which a company holds one key and you hold the others. The company can’t spend alone; it can help your heirs complete a transaction. Casa, Unchained and Nunchuk work this way. Paid services compared.
Cost basis
What an asset is treated as having cost, for calculating a gain when it’s sold. For inherited crypto this is the value at death in the US and UK (step-up), and the original purchase price in Australia. Valuing crypto at the date of death.
Custodial
Held by a company on your behalf, as on an exchange. The company has the keys; you have an account. Heirs claim through the company with estate documents. The opposite is self-custody.
Dead man’s switch
A service that releases something (a message, a file, a key) when you stop checking in. Emergency access and dead man’s switches.
DeFi
“Decentralised finance”: lending, borrowing and trading through programs on a blockchain rather than a company. Positions can need looking after; a loan can be liquidated while nobody is watching. Ethereum, tokens, NFTs and DeFi.
Derivation path
The route a wallet app takes from a seed phrase to a particular account. Different apps use different paths, which is why the same seed can show different accounts in different apps. Write down the app you used.
Descriptor
See wallet configuration file.
Estate
Everything a person owns at death, minus their debts. Crypto is part of it. The executor collects it, pays what’s due and distributes the rest.
ETF, ETN
Exchange-traded fund or note: a security that tracks the price of bitcoin or another coin, held in a brokerage account. Inherits like shares; no keys involved. European products are notes (ETNs), so you’re a creditor of the issuer. Bitcoin ETFs and crypto in a brokerage account.
European Certificate of Succession
An EU document proving who the heirs or executor are, accepted across the member states that take part. Useful when the exchange is in a different country from the heirs. Crypto inheritance in the EU.
Exchange
A company where people buy, sell and often store crypto: Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Bitvavo and many others. Crypto on an exchange is custodial. Claiming from an exchange.
Erbschein
The German court certificate naming the heirs; banks and exchanges ask for it, or for a notarial will with the court’s opening record. Crypto inheritance in Germany.
Executor
The person named in a will to carry it out. Called a personal representative in some places, estate trustee in Ontario. Gets letters testamentary (US) or a grant of probate (England and Wales, Australia). For heirs and executors.
Grant of probate
The court document in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Australia confirming the will and the executor’s authority (Scotland calls it confirmation). Exchanges ask for it. See probate.
Hardware wallet
A small device (Ledger, Trezor, BitBox, Coldcard, Jade, Keystone) that keeps the keys offline and signs transactions without exposing them. Protected by a PIN; backed up by the seed phrase. Found a hardware wallet?
Intestacy
Dying without a valid will. The law of the country, state or province then decides who inherits. The practical problem is the same: someone still has to find the crypto and the keys.
Inventory
A list of what exists and where: accounts, wallets, devices, roughly what each holds. Contains no secrets, so it can be kept with the will. Free templates.
Lightning Network
A payment layer on top of Bitcoin for fast, cheap transfers. Funds sit in “channels” that need a running wallet or node and a cooperative counterparty to close; harder to inherit than ordinary bitcoin. Lightning wallets and inheritance.
Letter of instruction
A plain, non-legal letter to your executor and heirs: what you own, where it is, what to do first, who to ask. Points to the secrets rather than containing them. How to write one.
Letters testamentary
The US court document appointing an executor under a will. Letters of administration are the version without a will. See probate.
Miniscript
A way of writing spending rules for Bitcoin wallets, used for timelocked recovery keys. Only some hardware wallets support it.
Multisig
A wallet that needs more than one key to spend, for example two of three. Useful for inheritance because a trusted person can hold one key without being able to spend alone. Multisig inheritance.
NFT
A unique token on a blockchain, often representing an artwork or collectible. Owned by an address like any other token; valued with difficulty. Ethereum, tokens, NFTs and DeFi.
Passphrase
An extra word or sentence added to a seed phrase that opens a different, hidden wallet. Also called the “25th word”. Without it the seed shows an empty wallet. Passphrases and inheritance.
PIN
The code that unlocks a hardware wallet. Forgetting it isn’t fatal if the seed exists; guessing it too often wipes the device. How many tries each device allows.
Power of attorney
A document giving someone authority to act for you, including while you’re alive but unable to decide. The versions that survive incapacity are called durable (US), lasting (England and Wales), enduring or continuing (Canada, Australia, Scotland). Incapacity.
Private key
The secret number that lets coins be spent from an address. Seed phrases are a human-readable way to back up all of a wallet’s private keys at once.
Probate
The court process that confirms a will and appoints the executor or administrator. The resulting document is what companies ask for before releasing anything. In many places the will becomes public once probate is granted. Crypto in your will.
RUFADAA
The US model law (Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act), adopted by most states, that sets out when an executor or attorney may access a dead or incapacitated person’s online accounts. Helps with exchanges and email; useless for a wallet the person held themselves. Crypto inheritance in the United States.
Seed phrase
Also recovery phrase, mnemonic, backup. Twelve or twenty-four words (sometimes eighteen; Trezor’s newer backups use twenty or thirty-three) that rebuild a wallet on any compatible device. Whoever has them has the coins; whoever loses them, with no copy, loses the coins. Never typed into a website. What your heirs need.
Self-custody
Holding your own keys, on a hardware wallet or in an app, rather than through a company. Nobody can freeze or lose your coins for you, and nobody can reset anything for your heirs. Why crypto gets lost.
SLIP39 (Shamir backup)
A way of splitting a seed into several shares, of which a chosen number are needed to rebuild it. Safer than cutting a seed phrase in half. Supported by Trezor (Model T and the Safe models) and the Keystone 3 Pro. Where to keep seed phrases.
Stablecoin
A token meant to hold a fixed value, usually one US dollar (USDC, USDT). Often overlooked in an inherited wallet because the app doesn’t show it by default.
Staking
Locking coins to help run a network in return for rewards. Staked coins take time to unlock, from days to several weeks and sometimes longer, which matters when an estate wants to move them. Ethereum, tokens, NFTs and DeFi.
Step-up in basis
The US rule (and the UK equivalent) that an heir takes inherited property at its value on the date of death, so gains made during the deceased’s life are never charged to capital gains tax; the value itself may still count for estate or inheritance tax. Doesn’t apply to gifts, or in Australia; in Canada the gain is taxed on the deceased instead. Give it now or leave it.
Timelock
A rule that a key can only spend after a set time has passed. Used to give an heir a key that stays useless while you’re alive and refreshing the wallet. Timelocked recovery keys.
Token
A coin that lives on another coin’s blockchain, such as a stablecoin or project token on Ethereum. Shown by wallet apps only when added. Ethereum, tokens, NFTs and DeFi.
Trust
A legal arrangement in which a trustee holds assets for beneficiaries under written rules. Can keep crypto out of probate, if the trustee can actually use the keys. Putting crypto in a trust.
Trustee
The person or company that holds assets under a trust, including for a child until a set age. For crypto, the trustee needs to be able to use the keys. Crypto for minors.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
A second code, from an app, a text message or a security key, needed to log in to an exchange. Heirs don’t need it (they claim through the estate), but the owner’s backup codes belong with the other secrets.
Unclaimed property
In the US, money or crypto in a dormant account that the holder must hand to the state after a few years. Heirs can claim it back from the state. When the keys are really lost.
Verklaring van erfrecht
The Dutch notarial certificate of inheritance that banks and exchanges in the Netherlands ask for. Germany’s equivalent is the Erbschein; the EU-wide version is the European Certificate of Succession.
Wallet
Software or a device that holds keys and lets you send and receive coins. The coins themselves are on the blockchain; the wallet is the key ring.
Wallet configuration file
Also descriptor or multisig backup. For a multisig or timelock wallet, the file that says which keys make up the wallet and how. Can’t spend anything, but without it the wallet can’t be rebuilt, even with the seeds. Keep a copy with every key. The sister site explains what a wallet descriptor is.
xpub
An “extended public key”: lets someone see all of a wallet’s addresses and balances without being able to spend. Part of a multisig’s configuration file; the reason a keyholder or service can watch your balance. More on multisigsetup.com.