Why digital assets break the ordinary plan

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An ordinary estate plan assumes that the assets can be found and that someone other than the deceased can get at them. A bank account appears on a statement and the bank will deal with the executor on sight of the grant or the certificate of inheritance. Digital assets held in self-custody satisfy neither assumption. Nothing in the deceased's papers need reveal that a wallet exists. No third party can release what is in it. The heirs inherit a legal right to an asset that they may never locate and cannot move. Chainalysis and others have estimated that several million bitcoin are lost for ever, a meaningful share of them through death without a key-transmission plan.¹

The plan this chapter describes has four components: an inventory, a key-management arrangement, legal instruments in each relevant jurisdiction and an executor who can execute. Each is necessary. An inventory without keys tells the heirs what they have lost. Keys without legal instruments give whoever holds them the ability to take the assets, which may not be the person entitled. Legal instruments without a competent executor produce a grant that no one can act on. Part D (Chapter VIII) together with Part J (Chapter VII) sets out the substantive succession law of each hub. This chapter is about the plan.

Notes

Chainalysis, "Crypto Crime Report" and market analyses 2020 to 2024 (estimates of 3 to 4 million bitcoin permanently inaccessible); Cane Island Digital Research, estimates of lost coins. Part B, Chapter II, on key management. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

All Singapore law advice is provided through KGP Legal LLC, an established and duly licensed firm of Singapore advocates and solicitors.

KGP Legal LLC is a medium-sized law firm in Singapore that is capable of providing the full range of legal services and corporate administration work. Please contact me directly at [email protected] if you need any further information.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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