Casa expands self-custody inheritance solution globally for bitcoin, ether and stablecoins

Self-custodial digital asset solutions provider Casa is expanding its inheritance product to global customers.

The “Casa Inheritance” feature is designed to simplify self-custodial crypto inheritance, which the firm describes as “the largest problem in self-custody today.” It enables users to secure their estate of digital assets, including bitcoin, ether and the stablecoins USDT and USDC, according to a statement.

Casa Inheritance is pitched as an alternative to passing on assets via custodial providers or non-custodial hardware wallets, which the firm argues are “notoriously susceptible” to loss — with an estimated $140 billion in bitcoin lost in part due to misplaced keys.

The company’s inheritance product was previously limited to U.S.-based investors with substantial bitcoin holdings. The expanded product builds on Casa’s core multi-key vault technology, allowing its members to grant secure, conditional vault access to a recipient of their choice from $250 per year. That could be a loved one, trustee or estate executor. 

How it works

Casa’s multi-key vaults provide enhanced security by enabling an easy way for users to hold crypto assets in their own digital vault with up to five keys. The vaults offer more distributed security compared to single-key hardware wallets, browser extensions or third-party custodians like crypto exchanges and were expanded to offer self-custody of ether and stablecoins in addition to bitcoin last year.

Despite criticism from Bitcoin BTC -0.41% maximalists, Casa made the move in response to clients. “In recent years, it has become technically sound to implement Ethereum ETH -1.014% support, which has dovetailed with market demand,” the company said at the time.

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By requiring signatures from multiple devices for transactions, a system known as a multisig, Casa helps keep funds protected even if a key is lost or compromised, reducing concerns over theft, loss or exchange mismanagement. The devices can be spread out for safekeeping, including an emergency recovery service — where Casa holds a backup key on a user's behalf.

To set up the self-custodial inheritance feature, members grant conditional vault access and share locked, encrypted keys with a designated recipient within the Casa app. If that member becomes incapacitated, the recipient can then request a transfer, subject to a six-month waiting period, during which Casa notifies the member of the pending transfer. Only when that period has elapsed is the vault access unlocked for the recipient.

Spot ETFs ‘miss bitcoin’s largest value proposition’

Commenting on the recently launched U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the Casa team said that while Bitcoin ETFs are useful to gain exposure in retirement accounts or other regulated vehicles, they “miss bitcoin’s largest value proposition as truly ownable digital money — which can only be realized through self-custody.” 

Casa also argued that spot Bitcoin ETFs suffer from significant centralization risk, with the majority of products entrusting custody of bitcoin to a single custodian: Coinbase.

“A surprising second-order effect of the new ETFs is just how much they’re motivating sophisticated investors to choose self-custody for their generational wealth,” Casa co-founder and CEO Nick Neuman claimed. “If you view bitcoin as a long-term hedge against the financial system, holding it inside that system is a non-starter.”