In short
When Bitpanda learns of a death, it blocks the account until a court has established who inherits. The heirs or executor then submit a Legal Appointments & Successions ticket with the death certificate and the court’s inheritance document. Bitpanda deliberately doesn’t publish the rest of the process in advance; it tells the heirs once they’ve identified themselves.
What Bitpanda’s terms say
For Bitpanda’s European customers, the user agreement says that after a death “the Account will be suspended and blocked for security reasons, until the order of succession will be ascertained from a court”, and “the required steps will be communicated to the designated executor, respectively the heir(s)” (User Agreement, clause 7.7). It adds: “For security reasons, Bitpanda does not disclose in advance any details regarding the scope and content of the required steps.”
The UK agreement, with Bitpanda Broker UK Ltd, is similar but speaks of executors: the account stays blocked “until satisfied that your executor(s) have legal authority over your estate” (UK User Agreement, clause 7.7).
The documents
The terms ask for proof of death “in sufficient form” and a court decision on who inherits. The ticket form suggests attachments such as a power of attorney, a court order or an inheritance certificate, as JPG or PDF. In practice:
- The death certificate.
- The court’s decision on the succession. In Austria that’s normally the probate court’s Einantwortungsbeschluss (for estates of €5,000 or less, the court may instead authorise someone to take over the assets; send that decision); in Germany an Erbschein; in the UK a grant of probate or letters of administration; elsewhere the local equivalent or a European Certificate of Succession.
- ID of the heir or executor, and a power of attorney if someone acts for them.
- The email address the deceased used for Bitpanda.
Expect to be asked for more, possibly including a fresh identity check of the person claiming.
Step by step
- Submit a ticket using the Legal Appointments & Successions form. Give your email address, the deceased’s Bitpanda email address and a short description, and attach the documents.
- Bitpanda blocks the account, if it hasn’t already.
- Bitpanda tells you the further steps.
There’s no published bereavement email address and no published timeline.
What the estate receives
Bitpanda doesn’t say in advance whether heirs receive the crypto itself or money, or into which account. Ask in your ticket, and ask for a statement of the balances on the date of death, which most countries’ inheritance tax needs (why).
Good to know
- Bitpanda Custody is a separate business for institutions; its help pages don’t describe the retail process.
- Official warning: “Bitpanda will never ask for your password, security codes, or to transfer any assets or make payments.” It also says it “will never reach out to you via WhatsApp or SMS” (Bitpanda). Recovery scams.