Crypto Letter of Instruction: How to Write One Your Family Can Use

A crypto letter of instruction is a short, plain-English document that tells your family where your crypto is and what to do first, while keeping the recovery phrases and passwords out of it. Your will says who gets your crypto. The letter tells them how to reach it.

AARP describes a letter of instruction as a “flexible, informal supplement to your will.” This guide explains why crypto needs one more than a bank account does, what the law covers, the six sections to write, where to keep the letter and what must stay out. It is education, not legal advice. An estate attorney in your state should review your plan.

What is a letter of instruction?

A letter of instruction is an informal document, written in your own words, that sits alongside your will and tells the people you trust where things are and what to do. AARP says it “doesn’t have the legal effect of a will and isn’t a substitute for it,” and that you don’t need a lawyer to draft one.

AARP’s guide splits the letter into parts: funeral wishes, financial details such as accounts, contacts and debts, and personal effects. Fidelity gives similar advice: “Catalog all of your assets, identifying information, location, titling, and current value of each item.” For digital assets, Fidelity suggests you “create a list of your files and accounts and name a successor in your estate planning documents.” The letter answers two questions: where is everything, and what should happen first?

Why does crypto need a letter of instruction?

Crypto needs a letter of instruction because, for coins you hold yourself, there is no company that can look up your account and let your family in. Ledger’s guide says: “When a crypto holder dies with the only copy of their seed phrase, the blockchain permanently freezes those assets.” MetaMask’s help center says: “MetaMask cannot recover your wallet for you.”

Exchange accounts work differently, but your family still has to know they exist.

	Self-custody wallet	Exchange account (Coinbase example)
Who can let your family in	Nobody; the backup is the only way in	The exchange, after a claims process
What your family needs	The device, how to unlock it and where the backup is	To know the account exists, plus documents
Documents	None; access is by key	Coinbase lists a death certificate, probate papers such as letters testamentary, and photo ID for the person named
Naming a beneficiary	Not applicable	Coinbase says it doesn’t currently support this for individual accounts

Coinbase says “estate planning documents or state intestate laws dictate the ownership transfer of a Coinbase account.” If your family doesn’t know which exchange to ask, that process can’t start. Our article on what happens to self-custodied XRP when you die covers the wider picture.

What does the law say about access to digital assets?

The law on digital asset access varies by state, which is why an estate attorney should check your plan. Fidelity warns that “state and federal laws may prohibit others from accessing or using your files and accounts without written consent.” In the US, the Uniform Law Commission, which writes model laws for states to consider, published the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act in 2015. Each state decides whether and how to adopt a model law like this.

Even when the law lets someone in, they still need to know where to go. That is the letter’s job.

How do you write a crypto letter of instruction?

Write a crypto letter of instruction in six short sections, in words someone who has never opened a crypto app can follow. This six-part template is Bullrunners’ own framework, built on the AARP, Fidelity and Ledger guidance above.

1. Who to call first. Name your estate attorney and the executor named in your will, with phone numbers. Add one person you trust who understands crypto, and say what you’d like them to help with. A helper can explain steps without ever holding your keys, so write that down.
2. The map. List each exchange account by name and each wallet by type, such as a hardware wallet or a phone app. For each one, say where the device or login details are kept, not what they are. Include the small account you opened once and forgot. Your family can only claim what they know about.
3. Where the backups are. Write where each recovery backup is stored, never the backup itself. Ledger’s guide says heirs need to know “where the device is stored, how to unlock it (PIN), and where to find the seed phrase backup.” The letter points to where each one is kept. The PIN itself stays out of the letter, stored with or near the backup.
4. The steps, in plain words. Number them. Step one might be “Call the attorney before touching anything.” Note that each exchange has its own claims process and that Coinbase, for example, lists its required documents on its help page.
5. What not to do. Warn your family that no real company or helper will ask for recovery words by phone, email or message. MetaMask’s wording is: “Never share your SRP or private keys with anyone.”
6. Signed and dated. AARP says: “Always sign and date each revision to eliminate confusion over which is your most current statement.”

AARP suggests reviewing the letter “every couple of years or when your circumstances change.” For crypto, a change could be a new wallet, a new exchange or a backup that moved. If your family might also need to deal with taxes on inherited coins, our guide to the step-up in basis for inherited crypto is a useful addition to the file.

Where should you keep a crypto letter of instruction?

Keep a crypto letter of instruction where your family will find it, and away from the backup it points to. AARP suggests you “keep one with your will and another in a place your family would look first,” and warns against a safe deposit box “where it might be difficult to reach.” Fidelity suggests you “include a copy of the letter of instruction with your estate planning documents.”

Tell the people in section one that the letter exists and where it is. A letter nobody knows about can’t help. For crypto, add one rule: the letter and the backup live in different places, so someone who finds the letter doesn’t also find the backup. Keep the backup itself somewhere secure on its own, because anyone who finds a recovery phrase can use it.

What should stay out of a crypto letter of instruction?

Recovery phrases, PINs and passwords should stay out of a crypto letter of instruction. AARP’s general guide asks whether documents on your computer need “file names or passwords,” but crypto wallet makers draw a harder line. MetaMask says to “store your SRP somewhere secure and offline” and warns that “online storage like the cloud or password managers are not secure and vulnerable to hacks.” It also warns against a cloud document, an email or a sticky note.

Ledger’s guide names both risks in one line: “Storing seed phrases where heirs can’t find them, or storing them where thieves can.” A letter gets copied, handed over and read by more than one person. That is why the secrets stay out. The letter says where. Not what.

What would make this plan fail?

A letter of instruction has limits, and an honest plan accounts for them. A letter that says where the backup is could lead the wrong person there, which is why the letter and the backup stay apart and the letter goes only to people you trust. The letter isn’t legally binding, so it supports your will rather than replacing it. And state laws differ, so an attorney should check how the pieces fit.

What to do this month

Open a blank page and write section two, the map, tonight: every exchange and every wallet, and where each one’s device or login is kept. Then compare it against our three-part XRP inheritance plan and book time with an estate attorney to review the whole plan. If you have old exchange accounts you’ve stopped using, our guide to unclaimed crypto and dormant account laws explains what can happen to them.

Sources

• AARP: State Your Intentions With a Letter of Instruction
• Fidelity: Why writing a letter of instruction can be beneficial
• Ledger Academy: What Happens to Your Crypto When You Die
• MetaMask Help Center: How to secure your Secret Recovery Phrase and password
• Coinbase Help: Claim a decedent’s Coinbase account