Bron, a self-custody wallet provider, has launched a “Digital Inheritance” feature designed to help heirs gain wallet access after an owner’s death—one of crypto’s longest-running practical failures, where funds can be stranded permanently when keys or seed phrases disappear
The feature introduces a six-month mandatory delay before any co-ownership or transfer can occur, and relies on pre-selected “Guardians” who verify designated recipients after an inheritance request is submitted. Bron says it avoids automated transfers and “dead-man’s switches.”
Founder Dmitry Tokarev told Unchained that inactivity-based triggers can backfire if a user forgets to “check in,” becomes incapacitated, or if the destination wallet is itself inaccessible, often because it’s protected by a seed phrase that family members may lose.
Bron’s process uses a multi-party computation model: in a death scenario, one signing “shard” is “effectively lost with the user,” and—after guardians validate recipients—Bron and a user-appointed third party facilitate reconstruction so recipients become co-owners after the delay, with each recipient required to sign for future transactions.
This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.
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Tokarev said collusion by guardians isn’t the key risk because guardians don’t have account access, while recipients can’t move funds unilaterally once co-ownership begins.
That structure creates a clear tradeoff: if heirs disagree, assets may remain immovable until consensus is reached. Bron also said the inheritance flow has cleared internal audits, with third-party audits planned “in the near future.” The company emphasized the tool doesn’t determine legal entitlement and doesn’t replace a will.
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