<story><title>Confessions of a Bitcoin Widow</title><url>https://thewalrus.ca/bitcoin-widow/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>scotty79</author><text>On the other hand ... What&amp;#x27;s wrong, if your wealth distilled to the limits of abstraction dies with you?&lt;p&gt;If you haven&amp;#x27;t shared it with anyone, why would anyone get it?&lt;p&gt;If you didn&amp;#x27;t trust anyone with the keys to it while you were alive, why should anyone have it?</text></item><item><author>matheusmoreira</author><text>&amp;gt; Cotten possessed the only key to the online vaults where his customers’ investments were supposedly stored.&lt;p&gt;This is very important. Due to strong cryptography it&amp;#x27;s safe to assume the cryptocurrencies can&amp;#x27;t be moved without the secret key. What happens if the owner of the key dies? My father asked me about this once and I had no answer. Something to really think about.&lt;p&gt;We currently think of secret keys as expendable. Compromised or lost? Just make a new one. Nobody shares or inherits keys, everyone has their own set. The dead won&amp;#x27;t be encrypting or signing any messages and there is generally no reason for anyone to retain the ability to impersonate them.&lt;p&gt;Traditional key discipline relies on the assumption keys are worth nothing. All this goes out the window when these are the keys to assets worth thousands, millions. A new key discipline needs to be developed.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>helen___keller</author><text>&amp;gt; If you didn&amp;#x27;t trust anyone with the keys to it while you were alive, why should anyone have it?&lt;p&gt;Wills and inheritance have been a part of human society since the beginning of civilization, I think it’s more likely we will need to find a way to make new technology adapt to society and not the other way around</text></comment>
<story><title>Confessions of a Bitcoin Widow</title><url>https://thewalrus.ca/bitcoin-widow/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>scotty79</author><text>On the other hand ... What&amp;#x27;s wrong, if your wealth distilled to the limits of abstraction dies with you?&lt;p&gt;If you haven&amp;#x27;t shared it with anyone, why would anyone get it?&lt;p&gt;If you didn&amp;#x27;t trust anyone with the keys to it while you were alive, why should anyone have it?</text></item><item><author>matheusmoreira</author><text>&amp;gt; Cotten possessed the only key to the online vaults where his customers’ investments were supposedly stored.&lt;p&gt;This is very important. Due to strong cryptography it&amp;#x27;s safe to assume the cryptocurrencies can&amp;#x27;t be moved without the secret key. What happens if the owner of the key dies? My father asked me about this once and I had no answer. Something to really think about.&lt;p&gt;We currently think of secret keys as expendable. Compromised or lost? Just make a new one. Nobody shares or inherits keys, everyone has their own set. The dead won&amp;#x27;t be encrypting or signing any messages and there is generally no reason for anyone to retain the ability to impersonate them.&lt;p&gt;Traditional key discipline relies on the assumption keys are worth nothing. All this goes out the window when these are the keys to assets worth thousands, millions. A new key discipline needs to be developed.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zwirbl</author><text>Most people don&amp;#x27;t trust their adult children with access to their wealth, and yet they leave it as an inheritance to them when they die. Often even accompanied by a will</text></comment>