Crypto and NFTs in Your Will — Estate Planning for Digital Assets in Canada
There is a particular kind of estate-planning failure that only happens with crypto: the assets are sitting right there, everyone knows they exist, and no one can ever touch them again. A bank account has a help desk, a paper trail, and a legal process for the executor. A self-custodied wallet has a string of secret words, and if those words die with you, so does the value. Cryptocurrency and NFTs are real property that belongs in your estate plan — but they demand a kind of care that ordinary assets do not.
This guide covers the two things that matter: making the assets reachable, and understanding how they are taxed. It is general information, not tax or legal advice.
They are property — and they are taxed
Crypto and NFTs are property and pass through your estate like anything else; you can leave them to named beneficiaries. They are also taxable. The Canada Revenue Agency treats cryptocurrency as a commodity, so disposing of it is a taxable event.[1] On death, Canada generally deems you to have disposed of your capital property at fair market value, which can produce a capital gain reported on your final return.[2] NFTs raise the same disposition issue with the extra wrinkle that valuing a unique, thinly traded token can be genuinely hard. The exact tax depends on your cost base and the value at death, so this is a question for an accountant — see capital gains on death in Canada for the mechanics.
The real problem is access, not ownership
Here is the part that makes crypto different from every other asset in your estate. Self-custodied crypto and NFTs are controlled by a private key or seed phrase. There is no institution that can reset a password, verify a death certificate, and release the funds. If your executor cannot find the keys, the assets are permanently lost — not frozen, not delayed, gone.[3] No amount of legal authority recovers them. This single fact should reshape how you plan: ownership is easy to leave behind; access is the thing that gets lost.
Never put the secrets in the will
It is tempting to solve the access problem by writing the seed phrase straight into the will. Don't. A will can become a public document once it is probated, which means private keys, seed phrases, passwords, and exchange logins written into it could be exposed to anyone able to read the probated file. Anyone with the seed phrase controls the assets, so this could hand them away.
The correct pattern separates the two:
- The will (or a private companion document) says the assets exist and points to where the instructions live.
- The secrets — keys, seed phrases, passwords — are stored securely and separately, in a form your executor can reach but the public cannot.
That separation is the whole game. It keeps your assets recoverable by the right person without publishing the keys to the world.
Custodial versus self-custody
Not all crypto is held the same way, and the difference drives your executor's options:
- Custodial (on an exchange). The exchange holds the assets for you. Many exchanges have a formal deceased-account or estate process your executor can follow with a death certificate and proof of authority — closer to dealing with a bank.
- Self-custody (your own wallet). You alone hold the keys. There is no process and no third party to ask — possession of the keys is the only thing that grants access.
Most people who hold crypto have some of each. Recording which holdings are custodial and which are self-custodied, and the access route for each, is what turns a vague "he had some Bitcoin" into something an executor can actually administer.
What your executor actually needs
Pulling it together, an executor needs three things to handle digital assets well: an inventory of what you hold and where (which coins and tokens, on which exchanges, in which wallets); the access path for each holding (the exchange's estate process, or the location of the keys or seed phrase); and a realistic understanding that values can swing sharply between the date of death and the date they deal with it. The inventory without the access path is a treasure map with no key.
What we focus on at It's Simple Will
The Will Creator lets you leave your digital assets to the people you choose, and — just as importantly — the Life Discovery Kit is built to capture the where and how: the inventory and access instructions an executor needs, kept private rather than published in the will. For the broader online-accounts picture, see digital legacy planning in Canada; for the tax side, see capital gains on death in Canada.
Related guides
Citations & sources
- [1]Reporting income from crypto-asset transactions — Canada Revenue Agency
- [2]T4037 — Capital Gains (deemed disposition on death) — Canada Revenue Agency
- [3]Administering estates (Ontario) — Government of Ontario
Frequently asked questions
Do cryptocurrency and NFTs go through my will?
Yes. They are property and form part of your estate like any other asset. You can leave them to named beneficiaries. The complication is not whether they pass, but whether your executor can actually reach them — which depends entirely on access to the keys or the account that holds them.
What is the single biggest risk with crypto in an estate?
Lost access. Self-custodied crypto and NFTs are controlled by a private key or seed phrase, and there is no bank or company that can recover them if those are lost. If your executor cannot find the keys, the assets are effectively gone for good — a failure mode that does not exist with ordinary bank or investment accounts.
Should I write my seed phrase or keys into my will?
No. A will can become a public document once it is probated, so putting private keys, seed phrases, passwords, or exchange logins into it could expose your assets to anyone who reads it. Keep the secrets stored securely and separately, and use the will (or a private companion document) only to say that the assets exist and where the instructions can be found.
How are crypto and NFTs taxed when I die?
The Canada Revenue Agency treats cryptocurrency as a commodity, so disposing of it is a taxable event. On death, Canada generally deems you to have disposed of capital property at fair market value, which can create a capital gain taxed on your final return. NFTs raise the same disposition issues with added valuation difficulty. The numbers depend on your cost base and value at death, so get tax advice.
What does my executor need to handle them?
A clear inventory of what you hold and where (which coins or tokens, on which exchanges or in which wallets), the access path for each (exchange estate process for custodial accounts; keys or seed phrase for self-custody), and an understanding that values can swing sharply. Without the access information, the inventory alone is not enough.
Custodial exchange versus self-custody — does it matter for my estate?
A great deal. Assets on a custodial exchange may have a formal estate or deceased-account process your executor can follow with documents. Self-custodied assets in a personal wallet have no such process — possession of the keys is everything. Knowing which of your holdings is which, and recording the route for each, is central to the plan.