Paper wallets after a death

A paper wallet is a printed sheet from the 2013–2018 era: a public address for receiving, and a private part (a key, a seed phrase or a QR code) for spending. The private part is the wallet. The rest of the sheet is decoration.

Why paper wallets are fragile in an estate

• The private part is usually unencrypted: anyone who sees it controls the funds. A photograph, a scan, or a copy sent “for help” is the wallet leaving the family.
• The paper itself can degrade, fade or tear. Preservation is a physical problem, not just a digital one.
• The public address can be checked on a block explorer, but a visible balance proves nothing about access or title, see why a wallet balance proves nothing.

How to preserve it

• Keep the whole sheet flat, dry and out of direct light.
• Never photograph, scan or email any part of it (especially the private side) and never type it into a website, app or form. The only legitimate place it is entered is the official device or wallet software from the official channel that you are certain is genuine, after authority is confirmed.
• Do not “test” it by importing it into a website or app. The only legitimate place for the key is wallet software from the official channel that you are certain is genuine, or the device you control, after authority is confirmed, import sites that offer to “check” it are a common theft vector.
• Record only that a paper wallet exists, where, and when.

What to do with it

• The private part IS the wallet. Access is the private key (or the printed words), used on the correct network.
• When the estate is ready: spending from a paper wallet is careful, one-time work, the private key is exposed the moment it is used. It is done in a wallet program, after authority, on the correct network, in the correct amount.
• The classic mistake: “testing” it in a website or app exposes the key to whoever runs that site.
• If the key is unreadable or incomplete: read what is realistically possible in wallet recovery.
• Until authority is confirmed, keep the whole sheet flat, dry and unphotographed.

Encrypted keys (6P / BIP38)

Some printed keys are encrypted: the private key starts with 6P and needs a password. Without the password, the key is useless, the password matters as much as the paper itself.

• Preserve the key and the password separately, exactly as found.
• Never type, photograph or scan either into a website, app or message, including tools that offer to “decrypt” or “check” it.
• If the password is missing, read what is realistically possible in wallet recovery.

What happens next

1. Identify what the sheet actually is: address plus key, or a printed seed phrase. See what did you find.
2. Confirm legal authority before anyone handles the private part, see legal authority vs technical access.
3. When the estate is ready to act, spending from a paper wallet is careful, one-time work: the correct network, the correct amounts, and never a partial “test” that risks exposing the key. See wallet recovery: what is realistically possible for the limits.

For the full index of formats, see the wallet format library.