One way users can protect their private keys is to get a crypto "wallet," which can be "hot" or "cold."Ī hot wallet is connected to the internet, meaning private keys are stored on an app and kept online, making them more convenient to use but also vulnerable to hacking and online attacks. In Ontario, for example, it is zero for the first $50,000 of an estate and 1.5 per cent after that. Probate, or inheritance, tax rates vary across Canada. Known as the "multiple wills" strategy, Atin says this is often used for assets like shares in a private company. Since cryptocurrency doesn't require a government-validated will - all you need is the account holder's key - a separate will can be drawn up just for that asset, which doesn't require a probate tax payment. If a beneficiary tries to take money out of a bank after the account holder dies, for example, a government-validated will is needed in order to transfer those assets and then a probate tax is charged. The Canadian-based website Bitbuy also has a similar policy.Īnother option, for tax purposes, is for a cryptocurrency holder to create a second will dictating whom they would like to transfer their crypto assets to in the event of their death. Some cryptocurrency platforms allow people who inherit or become the owner of a deceased family member's account to access it.Ĭoinbase, for example, will ask those requesting access to their loved one's account for a death certificate, last will and testament, and a valid government-issued photo ID of the requestor. "We're early on in this and despite a lot of thinking on the topic by lawyers and privacy people and all of that stuff, we don't still have a solution," he said.
The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies makes tracing their ownership or conducting an audit virtually impossible without the private key.Įntrusting someone with a password is one way, and perhaps one of the only ways, to ensure these assets are not lost forever, although even this raises security concerns, Atin says.
Individuals use their private key, like a password, to access their cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
In this world, at this time, can love really join the tribes of man? It was not a question when the Judds asked, “Don't you think it's time?” Naomi knew the answer all along.More Canadians are likely faced with the task of deciding what to do with their digital estate once they're gone, whether that means protecting their cryptocurrency or leaving their social media accounts in someone else's hands. It was so beautiful and artful, he thought it was a Broadway song. I once sang that song at a piano bar, and a man in the audience approached me afterward, impressed by the song (probably not by my performance). The lack of animosity between us reminds me of that line in “Love Can Build a Bridge,” perhaps Naomi’s crowning achievement as a songwriter: “Love and only love can join the tribes of man.” When my husband and I moved to Philadelphia and they stayed in New York, we continued our campground reunions, and there was never a camping trip without a Judds singalong around the fire, under the starlit Pennsylvania sky.īoth couples have since divorced, and I have remarried - making sure to impress an appreciation of the Judds upon my new husband - but we all remain close and in touch.
Soon we two couples became inseparable, taking camping trips together several times a summer. I had to go to all the way to New York City to find my country people.
One night a Judds song came on, I forget which one, and one of my new friends began singing along. There, I cultivated a new circle of friends, many of them also from Michigan.