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About the Protocol

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+ Today, in this Samhain week — time of the year when the two 'worlds' (material and spiritual) close together + and better communicate — we have the launch of this new Protocol to honour Bitcoin and all positivity it will + bring to humanity. +

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+ This project was originated to solve an existing problem: to leave bitcoin inheritance to one's own children, + but in a decentralised manner, without the intervention of an external third party + (spouse, public notary, etc.) — thus in perfect accordance with the Fundamental principle of + decentralisation. +

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+ We have created this protocol (seeking inspiration from John Nash game theory 'dominant dynamics' + on which bitcoin incentives are based) so that it can have own life, without the need of a central + Big Brother to make it work. +

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+ It is an open-source code plug-in and a Will-Executor, taking in charge the inheritance transactions' push, + will stay active for at least the next 10 years to await the consolidation of the protocol + with more and more Will-Executors joining in. +

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Key Features

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🔐
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Decentralized Inheritance

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+ Plan Bitcoin inheritance without involving any third party (notary, spouse, custodian). + Fully peer-to-peer, in perfect accordance with Bitcoin's core principle of decentralisation. + No legal overhead, no intermediaries — ever. +

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+ Bitcoin Only + Protocol +
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⏱️
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Time-Locked Transactions

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+ Transactions are created with Locktime set to a future date. + Will-Executors retain and broadcast them automatically at the specified delivery date. + Your keys never leave your device — Electrum handles all signing. +

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+ Desktop + Bitcoin Only +
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💾
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Wallet Backup

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+ Pre-sign a recovery transaction to a secondary address. If you lose your seed, + funds are automatically sent to your backup wallet. +

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+ Desktop + Open Source +
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💰
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Economic Incentives

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+ Each inheritance transaction includes a fee for the Will-Executor, + paid on confirmation. Incentives grow with Bitcoin's value over time. +

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+ Server + Bitcoin Only +
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🌐
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Open Source & Community

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+ Anyone can run a Will-Executor server and earn commissions. + The community is encouraged to find new use cases. +

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+ Open Source + Server +
+ View Source Code → +
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How It Works

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+ Six steps — from first setup to automatic execution of your Bitcoin will. +

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+ 👤 + 01 +
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Add Heirs
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Enter the Bitcoin address of your heir(s) in the BAL plugin. No notary or intermediary required.
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+ 📝 + 02 +
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Prepare Transaction
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The wizard builds a time-locked transaction with your delivery date and Will-Executor fee.
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Sign
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Electrum signs with your key. The plugin never touches your keys — the signed will is stored locally.
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+ 📡 + 04 +
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Send to Will-Executors
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Your signed will is sent to Will-Executor servers from the WeList. They hold it until the delivery date.
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+ 💻 + 05 +
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Use Electrum Normally
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Just use Electrum as usual. Every session auto-postpones your delivery date — Check Alive, zero effort.
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Your Will, Always Up to Date
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On close, the plugin checks your balance and asks to refresh your will. You confirm — it never signs for you.
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① – ③  Setup
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④  Deploy
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⑤  Stay Alive
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⑥  Auto-Execute
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+ Note on signing: The plugin never signs on your behalf. + If your wallet uses a password or a hardware wallet, you will be prompted to confirm. + The plugin asks — you decide. Your will stays accurate, always under your control. +

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Will-Executors

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+ The economic incentive necessary to make all this possible is a fee included in each inheritance transaction. + It is paid when the Will-Executor transmits the inheritance transaction to the nodes, + and is therefore inserted in the block. +

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+ We expect the BAL PROTOCOL to be successful thanks to the incentives included in the inheritance + transactions. These incentives are substantial and increase with the Bitcoin value in time, + and above all are appealing for more and more servers to join in the inheritance transactions with a + prospective for middle / long period gains. +

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+ Anybody will have the possibility to create a server Will-Executor to contribute to the protocol + and earn commissions, since the code is available as open-source. +

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Electrum Plugin

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🔌
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Bitcoin After Life Plugin

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+ The B.A.L. plug-in has been created for Electrum wallet, considered the gold standard + among Bitcoin wallets. We hope one day Electrum developers will integrate it directly by default. +

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+ Desktop + Open Source +
+ View Plugin Repository → +
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🖥️
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BAL Server

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+ The server component acts as a Will-Executor: it retains signed transactions and broadcasts them + at the specified expiry date, ensuring the inheritance process runs without human intervention. +

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+ Server + Open Source +
+ View Server Repository → +
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📖
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Documentation & Examples

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+ On bitcoin-after.life you will find instructions to install the plug-in in Electrum and several + practical examples on how to manage heredity with the Plug-in. +

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+ View Website → +
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Plugin Operations

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How it works

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+ The plugin generates a transaction with Locktime set to a future date. The transaction + is signed and sent to one or several Will-Executors, who will take care in retaining the transaction + and send it at the expiry date. +

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+ In order to provide economic incentives for the Will-Executor to keep and broadcast the transaction, + an output will contain a fee payment, which will be received only when the heredity + transaction is confirmed in the block chain. +

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+ We know technology is useful when it is easily available to people in order to improve their lives; + therefore BAL's main objective will be to improve and to simplify this interface over time. +

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+ All the work carried out to implement this project and BAL protocol (Bitcoin After Life) has been + procured only with payments in Bitcoin — with no use of FIAT currencies. +

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Frequently Asked Questions

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+ It is a software designed to manage the inheritance of your Bitcoin stored with a seed phrase (private key). + It also allows you to 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. +
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+ It is not known exactly who the author or developer is — there are likely more than one. + It is an open-source software, belonging to everyone, just like Bitcoin. + The first public post about Bitcoin After Life was published on + BitcoinTalk + on 31 October 2024 (Samhain), signed by Svātantrya. + The code is open to all, and anyone can contribute to its development through donations. +
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+ For the simple reason that 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 design choice maximises security, reduces the maintenance burden of the software, + and means users can trust the signing process completely independently of BAL. +
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+ An inheritance costs two fees, both paid exclusively in Bitcoin — no subscriptions, no credit cards: +
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  • Miner fee: chosen by the user at the time of signing. A higher fee is recommended to ensure future confirmation.
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  • Will-Executor fee: deducted directly from the inheritance at the moment of execution, when the Will-Executor broadcasts the transaction to the network.
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+ Will-Executors are free to set their own commissions to cover server running 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. +
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+ 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 to the Bitcoin network 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. +
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+ No — with the latest versions of the software, even the smallest VPS is sufficient. + The earnings are medium-to-long term: the Will-Executor collects Bitcoin fees in the future, + when the inheritance transactions it holds reach their delivery date and get confirmed on-chain. + As Bitcoin’s value grows over time, so does the value of those fees. +
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+ Yes — you need to have 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 no longer + open Electrum before the delivery date, the funds will be automatically sent to the backup address. + It is a practical and decentralized safety net against private key loss. +
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+ It is very simple: the plugin includes a step-by-step guided wizard. + You will be asked to set two key parameters: +
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  • Delivery time: the future date on which the Will-Executor will broadcast the transaction.
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  • Check Alive period: how often Electrum should ask you if you want to postpone the delivery date (see Q10).
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+ Full instructions and practical examples are available on + bitcoin-after.life. +
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+ The Check Alive is a parameter that defines the period of inactivity + after which the BAL plugin — installed inside Electrum — will ask you whether you want + to postpone your inheritance delivery date. +

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+ Example: suppose you set an inheritance date 2 years from today, + with a Check Alive period of 6 months. If you open Electrum after 7 months + (i.e. more than 6 months since the last postponement), the plugin will prompt you: + your original delivery date is now only 1 year and 5 months away, and since you + are still alive and active, you will likely want to push it back to 2 years from + today again — so the plugin asks whether to postpone by another 6 months. +

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+ This mechanism ensures your will is never executed as long as you keep using + Electrum within the Check Alive window. If you stop opening Electrum before + the delivery date is reached, the Will-Executors will broadcast the inheritance + automatically. +

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+ Yes — from version 4.7.0 onwards, the BAL plugin is fully compatible + with Electrum Portable. This makes it usable on older PCs or in offline / air-gapped environments, + adding an extra layer of security for users who prefer cold wallet setups. +
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+ 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. +
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+ The plugin monitors your UTXO balance every time you close Electrum. + If it detects a change (funds sent or received), it will automatically prompt 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 by the network because its inputs were already spent. +
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+ Yes — the WeList (the official Will-Executor directory) is open to everyone. + Adding your server requires a donation of approximately 30,000 satoshis + to cover the management costs of the official list. + Once registered, your server will be visible to all BAL users directly inside the plugin. +
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+ Yes — the plugin was designed to be used by everyday people, not just technical users. + The guided wizard simplifies every step of the process, 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. +
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+ Yes — BAL 2.0 is currently 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. +
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+ No problem — the plugin proceeds to write the inheritance and send it to the Will-Executors + even if there is an incoming transaction still pending in the mempool. + It is sufficient that the transaction is visible in the mempool; + it does not need to be confirmed yet. The plugin handles this case automatically. +
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