The most common reasons crypto can become unreachable after a death

Access to crypto can fail after a death for technical reasons, often before anyone has done anything wrong. This page lists the most common causes, each with the guide that belongs to it. It is a technical explanation, not legal or tax advice: who is entitled to what under the applicable law and who may act is not covered here, see legal authority vs technical access.

Most causes exist before the death: there is no backup, nothing was documented, or only the person who passed away knew how things were set up. That is why this page also matters for owners who want to prepare their own crypto estate, see crypto inheritance planning.

The most common causes

1. Nobody knew the crypto existed. Without an inventory or overview, nobody knows where to look, and a device or document can sit untouched for years because it is not recognised as relevant. See how to find a deceased person’s crypto and the crypto estate inventory.
2. There is no (complete) backup of the recovery words. The wallet existed, but the seed phrase or another backup is missing, incomplete or unknown to the family. Without recovery material, a wallet cannot be restored on another device. See what is a seed phrase?.
3. An extra passphrase or password was not documented. A fully intact seed phrase can produce the wrong wallet without the correct extra passphrase, and a forgotten password can make a wallet file unusable. See wallet passwords and passphrases.
4. The wallet type or software version is unknown. Without knowing which wallet, which file format or which version was used, it is unclear which recovery route is correct. See what did I find? and the wallet format library.
5. The device was wiped, reset or locked. A reset or repeated failed attempts can wipe device data or lock access; that is not always the end, but it makes access harder or impossible. See preserving a hardware wallet and you made a mistake with inherited crypto.
6. 2FA is tied to the deceased person’s phone or email. Authenticator apps, SMS or security keys can be linked to an account or wallet; without that factor, logging in or recovery can fail. See 2FA and wallet access after a death.
7. An encrypted drive or container without the password. Encrypted drives and containers cannot be opened without the right password or material; what is inside them stays unreachable. See encrypted drives and containers.
8. An exchange account nobody can identify. An account with a provider is not always easy to find; the provider’s official procedure can only start once the account is identified. See exchange accounts after a death.
9. Old or unsupported software and formats. Older wallet formats and apps can have compatibility problems or no longer be supported by current software. See the wallet format library, wallet.dat files and an old computer or phone with a wallet.
10. Everything was on one device, without a backup. If the only copy was a single device and that device is gone, broken or wiped, there is nothing left to restore. See crypto storage methods compared.

Causes rarely act alone: an unknown wallet type, a missing passphrase and 2FA on the deceased’s phone can all play a role at once. First identify what was found and work through each part.

What you can do yourself

For family members, it starts with preservation: the preservation checklist. For owners, it starts with documenting what exists and where, without writing down the secrets: crypto inheritance planning.

What if access is already gone?

Not every cause is permanent: some problems are solvable and others are not, and nobody knows which without examining the exact situation. See wallet recovery: what is realistically possible. If something was already tried or changed, damage control comes first: you made a mistake with inherited crypto.

What this page is not

This page describes technical causes, not a judgement about the person who passed away or the family, and it offers no guarantee about recovery: what is possible depends on the exact situation. It is not legal or tax advice and says nothing about who is entitled to what; authority questions are covered in legal authority vs technical access.