Nearly 70% of South Africans still die without a valid will. Even among those who begin drafting one, Discovery Life data shows that only 55% complete the will-drafting process, meaning many never end up with a legally valid will.
At the same time, cryptocurrency and other digital assets are becoming increasingly mainstream. According to the South African Reserve Bank, about 7.8 million South Africans – roughly 13% of the population – were using cryptocurrency platforms by mid-2025. Yet many investors have never considered what happens to those assets when they die.
Platforms such as Luno and VALR have helped to make investing in digital assets accessible to ordinary investors, while tokenised investments and stablecoins are becoming a growing part of many South Africans’ financial portfolios.
“Many people spend years building wealth in digital assets but never stop to ask what would happen if they died tomorrow,” says Harry Joffe, the head of legal services at Discovery Life. “Unlike a bank account, crypto isn’t something an executor can simply access by presenting a death certificate.”
Traditional estate planning doesn’t always translate to digital assets
With traditional assets such as bank accounts, unit trusts, and share portfolios, executors can approach the relevant financial institution, prove their authority, and begin administering the estate.
Digital assets operate differently.
“The biggest risk your estate faces with digital assets is a lack of access, either because no one knows the asset exists, or because they know about it but cannot get in,” says Joffe. “Unlike traditional financial institutions, there is no customer service department that can assist with resetting a password or grant an executor access to a crypto wallet.”
Instead, access depends on credentials that typically exist only with the owner. Cryptocurrency wallets may require private keys, passwords, recovery phrases, and two-factor authentication before assets can be accessed. Lose those credentials, and the cryptocurrency may become permanently inaccessible, even if family members know the assets exist.
For that reason, estate planning for digital assets requires more than simply listing them in a will.
Five steps to protect digital assets
Joffe says the good news is that protecting digital assets does not require a complicated estate plan, but it does require deliberate action.
- Include digital assets in your will
A will should record that digital assets exist and identify where they are held. This provides executors with a roadmap to cryptocurrency holdings, online investment platforms, and other digital assets that form part of the estate.
- Don’t include passwords in your will
While a will should refer to digital assets, it should never contain passwords or private keys. Instead, these should be stored securely in a digital vault, encrypted document, or another secure location, with clear instructions explaining how an executor can obtain access after death.
“The biggest challenges when an estate includes crypto is ensuring your executor can access your passwords after your death without compromising their security while you’re alive,” Joffe says.
- Leave clear instructions
Passwords alone may not be sufficient to access digital assets.
Recovery phrases, authentication applications, and two-factor authentication often form part of the security process. Joffe recommends documenting the steps required to access digital assets and updating those instructions whenever passwords or account details change.
- Choose the right executor
Selecting an executor has always been an important estate planning decision. Digital assets add another layer of complexity.
“An executor who handles property and pension matters flawlessly may be completely out of their depth with a complicated digital estate,” says Joffe. “If your estate includes international assets, cryptocurrency, and investments across different jurisdictions, you need someone with experience in managing complex estates.”
He recommends choosing an executor or estate planning organisation with expertise in both traditional and digital assets, together with secure processes for storing and transferring passwords, encryption keys, and other critical access information.
- Plan for the tax consequences
Digital assets are not exempt from tax. Like other assets, cryptocurrency may be subject to estate duty, capital gains tax, and, depending on who inherits it, potentially spousal tax relief.
“You need to understand the tax implications associated with your asset and ensure that your estate has enough liquidity to cover the taxes. You should also ensure that they are accurately valued for any potential estate duty and capital gains tax assessment,” says Joffe.
Estate plans should evolve with your finances
As cryptocurrencies and other digital assets become a more common feature of investment portfolios, Joffe says estate planning should evolve alongside them.
“If you’ve invested in cryptocurrency, opened offshore accounts, or built wealth through digital assets, your will and estate plan need to reflect that. This ensures that the wealth you have built can be passed on as intended.”
Estate planning discussions that once focused on property, investments, and bank accounts may increasingly need to include digital assets to ensure clients’ estates can be administered as intended.
