Your bitcoin inheritance plan probably forgot your XBT
If you held bitcoin before Aug 8, 2026, the same keys now control XBT too. Most inheritance plans written before then say nothing about it. Your heirs could inherit your BTC and never know a second set of coins is sitting at the same addresses.
Bitcoin inheritance specialists at @mybitcoinwill recently laid out two self-custody setups for passing on bitcoin: a seed phrase with a passphrase, and collaborative-custody multisig with keys spread across vendors. Both work for XBT too, with a few extra steps.
Setup 1: seed phrase plus passphrase
One seed phrase, protected by a passphrase stored separately. Your heirs need both pieces and instructions on how to use them.
- Good news: the same seed and passphrase open your XBT. Nothing new to back up.
- The gap: your heirs need to know XBT exists and which wallet can spend it. A normal Bitcoin wallet only sees the BTC chain. For XBT they need an XBT-aware wallet, such as the Sparrow BLAKE2b build covered in our cold storage guide.
- The trap: coins at a pre-fork address exist on both chains. Spending carelessly on one chain can move the coins on the other. Point your heirs to our replay protection explainer before they touch anything.
Setup 2: collaborative-custody multisig
A 2-of-3 or 3-of-5 wallet where you hold some keys and one or more companies hold others. If you die, your heirs work with the key holders to recover the coins.
- Ask your provider directly: will they sign an XBT transaction for your multisig? If not, your heirs can only move the XBT with the keys you control.
- Check your quorum: in a 2-of-3 where you hold two keys, your heirs can still move the XBT with those two keys and an XBT-aware wallet. If you hold only one, the XBT may be stuck unless a vendor helps.
- Save the wallet descriptor. It's the map your heirs' software needs to rebuild the multisig on either chain.
Add one page to your plan
Whichever setup you use, add a short letter for your heirs:
- XBT exists. "Coins I held before Aug 8, 2026 also exist as XBT (Bitcoin BLAKE2b), controlled by the same keys."
- Where to check. Search an address on an XBT explorer, or use xbt.live/check to see whether it still holds XBT.
- Which wallet. Name the XBT-aware wallet you use and where the instructions are.
- Split before spending. Read the replay protection guide first so moving one coin doesn't move the other.
- Where to sell, if they choose to. Our exchange guide lists where XBT trades.
Never put seed words, passphrases or keys in that letter. It should explain the plan, not hold the keys.
An inheritance plan is only as good as the instructions your heirs can follow. If you've never moved XBT yourself, do it once with a small amount so you can write the steps from experience.
Cold storage guideDo I have XBT?
Not legal or financial advice. Talk to an estate lawyer about wills and trusts where you live. Hat tip to @mybitcoinwill for the two setups.