Seventeen answers about the protocol, the plugin and running a Will-Executor. For more — Check Alive details, hardware wallets, compatibility, and more — see the full FAQ in the manual.
+Seven quick answers to the most common questions about the protocol and the plugin.
It is software designed to manage the inheritance of your Bitcoin stored with a seed phrase (private key). It also lets you create an emergency backup of your wallet in case you lose your seed. The protocol uses time-locked transactions sent to Will-Executor servers, which broadcast them to the Bitcoin network at the pre-set delivery date.
It is not known exactly who the author or developer is — there are likely several. It is open-source software, belonging to everyone, just like Bitcoin. The first public post about Bitcoin After Life appeared on BitcoinTalk on 31 October 2024 (Samhain week), signed by Svātantrya. The code is open to all, and anyone can contribute through donations.
Because Electrum is hyper-tested and considered the gold standard among Bitcoin wallets. The BAL plugin does not sign transactions itself — that is entirely Electrum's job. This maximises security, reduces the maintenance burden, and lets users trust the signing process completely independently of BAL.
An inheritance costs two fees, both paid exclusively in Bitcoin — no subscriptions, no credit cards:
Will-Executors are free to set their own commissions to cover server costs. The fees are visible both on the official WeList website and directly inside the plugin. It is strongly advised not to manually lower them below what the server requests, as the server may reject the transaction entirely.
Will-Executor servers are the beating heart of the BAL Protocol. They receive your pre-signed, time-locked transactions, store them securely, and broadcast them at the pre-set delivery date. They cannot alter or steal the transaction, because it is already fully signed by you. Their only incentive to act correctly is the fee embedded in the transaction, received only once the inheritance is confirmed on-chain.
No — with the latest versions, even the smallest VPS is enough. The earnings are medium-to-long term: a Will-Executor collects Bitcoin fees in the future, when the inheritance transactions it holds reach their delivery date and confirm on-chain. As Bitcoin's value grows, so does the value of those fees.
Yes — you need a second wallet already set up as the destination (for example a BlueWallet on your phone). If you lose access to your original wallet and stop opening Electrum before the delivery date, the funds are sent automatically to the backup address on the pre-established date.
-It is a practical, decentralized safety net against private-key loss.
It is very simple: the plugin includes a step-by-step guided wizard. You set two key parameters:
-The Check Alive defines the period of inactivity after which the BAL plugin — inside Electrum — asks whether you want to postpone your inheritance delivery date.
-Example: say you set a delivery date 2 years out, with a Check Alive of 6 months. If you open Electrum after 7 months (more than 6 months since the last postponement), the plugin prompts you: your delivery date is now only 1 year and 5 months away, and since you are still active you will likely want to push it back to 2 years again — so it asks whether to postpone by another 6 months.
-As long as you keep using Electrum within the Check Alive window, your will is never executed. If you stop opening Electrum before the delivery date, the Will-Executors broadcast the inheritance automatically.
Yes — the BAL plugin is compatible with any hardware wallet supported by Electrum (Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard, BitBox02, Jade, KeepKey and others). Using a dedicated PC for cold-wallet signing is recommended for maximum security.
The plugin monitors your UTXO balance every time you close Electrum. If it detects a change (funds sent or received), it automatically prompts you to update the inheritance transaction to reflect the new balance. This prevents two problems: new funds being excluded from the inheritance, or the old transaction being rejected because its inputs were already spent.
Yes — the WeList (the official Will-Executor directory) is open to everyone. Adding your server requires a donation of approximately 50,000 satoshis to cover the management costs of the official list. Once registered, your server is visible to all BAL users directly inside the plugin.
Yes — the plugin was designed for everyday people, not just technical users. The guided wizard simplifies every step, and the BAL team's ongoing goal is to keep the interface as simple and intuitive as possible. Detailed documentation and practical examples are available on bitcoin-after.life.
Yes — BAL 2.0 is in development. The main new feature will be support for staggered inheritance: instead of a single lump-sum transfer, it will be possible to schedule gradual distributions over time (for example 10% per year), giving heirs a more structured and flexible inheritance plan.
No problem — the plugin writes the inheritance and sends it to the Will-Executors even with an incoming transaction still pending in the mempool. It is enough that the transaction is visible in the mempool; it does not need to be confirmed yet. The plugin handles this case automatically.
BAL works with standard Electrum wallets (single-signature, seed-based) and with hardware wallets supported by Electrum (see FAQ 11). It is not yet compatible with multisig wallets — support is planned for a future plugin release. Compatibility with Electrum's TrustedCoin (2FA) wallets is currently unknown / unsupported; it has not yet been determined whether or when this will be addressed.
If you use a multisig or TrustedCoin (2FA) wallet, please do not rely on BAL for inheritance until compatibility is confirmed.
Yes — BAL 2.0 is in development. The main new feature will be support for staggered inheritance: instead of a single lump-sum transfer, it will be possible to schedule gradual distributions over time (for example 10% per year), giving heirs a more structured and flexible inheritance plan.
Looking for something more specific — Check Alive, running a Will-Executor, wallet compatibility, and more? See the full FAQ in the manual. Browse the full FAQ →