Inheritance of virtual assets

24/ 01/ 2024

Author: company Dynasty Law & Investment We havent had time to recover from the innovative phenomenon called virtual assets, so the question of the possibility of inheriting a cryptocurrency arises more often. As an example, we can mention the billionaire Matthew Melon, whose crypto capital was approximately $1 billion and the heirs had no opportunity to receive an inheritance. In fact, the process of inheriting virtual assets is not clearly prescribed, so the legislator should still work in this direction. The Law On Virtual Assets defines cryptocurrency as an intangible asset that is subject to civil rights. Therefore, a logical conclusion follows that the inheritance process takes place in accordance with the provisions of the Central Committee. In accordance with Article 1218 of the Civil Code, the inheritance consists of all the rights and obligations that belonged to the testator, and the possibility of inheritance is available in two ways - by county or by law. Inheritance by law is not sufficiently regulated in terms of virtual assets, because in most cases the access key is lost and as a result the heirs irrevocably lose the opportunity to inherit the right share in the inheritance, and therefore it is better to draw up a will in which it is important to describe the inheritance process in as much detail as possible - to specify the heirs, to inform the future heir about having an account on a crypto exchange, but the most important thing is to provide the notary with the access key to your wallet, because without the latter it will be impossible to access virtual assets. After the death of the testator, the notary or the heir must contact the customer support service with the relevant application and provide the following documents: death certificate of the owner; documents confirming the identity of the testator and the heir; a certificate of the right to inheritance, certified by a notary public. Based on the results of the analysis of the submitted documents, the crypto exchange determines the confirmation of inheritance rights and credits the cryptocurrency to the account of the heir. So, despite the fact that the inheritance of virtual assets is not sufficiently regulated in the legislation, the initial stage of this process has already been implemented and depends to a greater extent on the specifics of a specific crypto exchange.

Author: company Dynasty Law & Investment

We haven’t had time to recover from the innovative phenomenon called “virtual assets”, so the question of the possibility of inheriting a cryptocurrency arises more often. As an example, we can mention the billionaire Matthew Melon, whose crypto capital was approximately $1 billion and the heirs had no opportunity to receive an inheritance. In fact, the process of inheriting virtual assets is not clearly prescribed, so the legislator should still work in this direction.

The Law “On Virtual Assets” defines cryptocurrency as an intangible asset that is subject to civil rights. Therefore, a logical conclusion follows that the inheritance process takes place in accordance with the provisions of the Central Committee.

In accordance with Article 1218 of the Civil Code, the inheritance consists of all the rights and obligations that belonged to the testator, and the possibility of inheritance is available in two ways – by county or by law. Inheritance by law is not sufficiently regulated in terms of virtual assets, because in most cases the access key is lost and as a result the heirs irrevocably lose the opportunity to inherit the right share in the inheritance, and therefore it is better to draw up a will in which it is important to describe the inheritance process in as much detail as possible – to specify the heirs, to inform the future heir about having an account on a crypto exchange, but the most important thing is to provide the notary with the access key to your wallet, because without the latter it will be impossible to access virtual assets.

After the death of the testator, the notary or the heir must contact the customer support service with the relevant application and provide the following documents:

death certificate of the owner;
documents confirming the identity of the testator and the heir;
a certificate of the right to inheritance, certified by a notary public.

Based on the results of the analysis of the submitted documents, the crypto exchange determines the confirmation of inheritance rights and credits the cryptocurrency to the account of the heir.

So, despite the fact that the inheritance of virtual assets is not sufficiently regulated in the legislation, the initial stage of this process has already been implemented and depends to a greater extent on the specifics of a specific crypto exchange.