Compare commits

...

70 Commits

Author SHA1 Message Date
c29f14ded1 Add blog post: What Can a Will-Executor Actually See? 2026-09-05 10:38:49 +02:00
c2dc7ef1f5 Upload files to "/"
added article willexecutor
2026-08-30 21:45:59 +00:00
1721096c8f Upload files to "blog/img"
img
2026-08-30 21:45:04 +00:00
620cc56cae Upload files to "blog"
run a willexecutor article
2026-08-30 21:44:27 +00:00
ef513b7b2c Upload files to "/"
Update blog index: add the Electrum plugin post
2026-08-23 13:27:18 +00:00
6c21a88f00 Upload files to "blog/img"
Add cover image for the Electrum plugin post
2026-08-23 13:24:41 +00:00
e69536c2d5 Upload files to "blog"
Add blog post: why we built BAL as an Electrum plugin
2026-08-23 13:24:15 +00:00
cf0597ea78 Update index.html 2026-08-18 21:25:40 +00:00
4808066d37 Update index.html
fix: use real release asset URL from Gitea API instead of hardcoded filename
2026-08-18 00:33:21 +00:00
ab29afa0eb Update blog.html
modified img blog
2026-08-17 08:54:27 +00:00
d7e1ca49f1 Update blog.html
Update blog index thumbnail for inheritance-when-trust-fails post
2026-08-17 08:53:21 +00:00
f9fd24e30d delete old image 2026-08-17 08:51:49 +00:00
0ace181b94 delete old image 2026-08-17 08:51:40 +00:00
3a0b9bd84e Update blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html
removed mid image
2026-08-17 08:46:24 +00:00
75a4d489c3 Update blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html
Update cover image
2026-08-17 08:45:46 +00:00
39a4bcf6b4 Upload files to "blog/img"
new img
2026-08-17 08:43:58 +00:00
f212265569 Add blog post: What Happens to Your Bitcoin When You're Gone?
- New article (Week 1): blog/what-happens-to-your-bitcoin.html, built on
  the existing it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html template/layout.
- Cover image: blog/img/what-happens-to-your-bitcoin-cover.webp (1600x900,
  WebP, ~76KB).
- blog.html: add the new post card at the top of the index (newest-first).
- blog.html: fix .post-card thumbnail crop -- object-fit:cover was cutting
  off image edges/text with no margin; switched to object-fit:contain with
  16px padding and a white frame so the full thumbnail is visible on all
  cards.
2026-08-15 15:55:09 +02:00
b3f8b3a6e8 Upload files to "pitura"
SEO optimize
2026-08-14 23:15:40 +00:00
47dbeaad3c Upload files to "/"
SEO
2026-08-14 23:14:58 +00:00
4d9643cddf Upload files to "/"
SEO
2026-08-14 23:14:34 +00:00
7be2c34cb8 Update blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html
SEO
2026-08-14 23:13:54 +00:00
ae7d45c581 Update blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html
SEO
2026-08-14 23:10:39 +00:00
345747b125 Update blog.html
SEO
2026-08-14 23:09:46 +00:00
3dc156d7de Update manifesto.html
SEO
2026-08-14 23:08:53 +00:00
aa9be1376e Update index.html
SEO
2026-08-14 23:07:34 +00:00
cdd1716c12 Update blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html
Brand protect from language translate
2026-08-03 16:52:09 +00:00
331b36fb2b Update blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html
brand protect from language translate
2026-08-03 16:50:32 +00:00
b7656dc250 Update blog.html
brand protect from language translate
2026-08-03 16:48:45 +00:00
0b6abe7a09 Update blog.html 2026-08-03 15:55:33 +00:00
a10d4957d9 Update blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html 2026-08-03 15:52:30 +00:00
9deb45691e Update manifesto.html
Add translate=no 
to protect brand name from machine translation
2026-08-03 12:40:22 +00:00
8d2258db3e Update index.html
Add translate=no 
to protect brand name from machine translation
2026-08-03 12:39:40 +00:00
9be73c8008 Update blog.html 2026-08-03 12:20:38 +00:00
62aa69e816 Update blog.html
blog index - add seed article card
2026-08-03 12:19:12 +00:00
b97ca5005b Update blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html
correct extension img
2026-08-03 12:11:31 +00:00
abd24c0e88 Upload files to "blog"
Add blog post: it all starts with the seed
2026-08-03 12:10:34 +00:00
223555f98f Upload files to "blog/img"
Add seed article cover
2026-08-03 12:09:24 +00:00
b8e33d09c4 Update index.html
remove server colums, and added link to server information in docs page.
2026-08-02 15:58:02 +00:00
998bce1148 Update index.html
max width Faq-more box
2026-08-02 15:38:59 +00:00
4d626608d7 Update index.html
reduced the number of FAQs on the homepage and moved them to the official documentation.
2026-08-02 15:27:36 +00:00
cac59258a4 Update manifesto.html
add link press-kit in footer.
2026-08-02 15:17:54 +00:00
60debcd061 Update index.html
added press-kit link in footer
2026-08-02 15:17:09 +00:00
39a79ad38e Update index.html
Added links to the official BAL documentation
2026-07-30 12:36:06 +00:00
46ec6428bb Update index.html
ix(release): correct plugin zip filename to bal_<tag>.zip
2026-07-25 16:48:17 +00:00
0df10e2a6a fix(pgp): rename public_key.gpg to svatantrya.asc and update links 2026-07-22 20:43:47 -04:00
55f21ee9a8 Update mobile-check.html 2026-07-21 22:35:19 +00:00
a0bea41876 Update blog/img/inheritance-mid.png 2026-07-21 22:29:22 +00:00
5342998996 Update blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html
patch javascript for Tor browsers
2026-07-21 16:54:42 +00:00
89af335dc5 Upload files to "/"
test mobile  view
2026-07-21 16:53:42 +00:00
b42f1ffd3e Update manifesto.html
javascript patch for Tor browser
2026-07-21 16:53:04 +00:00
78ad182ca6 Update index.html
javascript patch
2026-07-21 16:52:14 +00:00
baff204308 Update blog.html
javascript patch
2026-07-21 16:51:31 +00:00
0a84c0b33d Update blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html 2026-07-21 16:37:38 +00:00
cd209d9761 Update blog/img/inheritance-cover.png 2026-07-21 16:36:12 +00:00
19f88963bd Update blog.html 2026-07-21 16:35:28 +00:00
414f09d864 Upload files to "/"
Add blog section with the first article
2026-07-21 16:33:48 +00:00
2d2291f01e Update manifesto.html
Improve mobile readability on the manifesto page
2026-07-21 16:31:25 +00:00
636cf306c4 Update index.html
Improve mobile readability: hamburger menu, type scale, scrollable table
2026-07-21 16:30:23 +00:00
bitcoinafterlife
0a5ed14e9a Update FAQ #17: wallet compatibility (multisig unsupported, TrustedCoin unknown); fix download links; update subtitle to 17 answers 2026-07-19 11:08:08 +02:00
1608bbf406 Upload files to "/" 2026-07-17 18:22:26 +00:00
4a23a54df2 Update manifesto.html
Add favicon links to head
2026-07-17 18:20:47 +00:00
736ed9941a Update index.html
Add favicon links to head
2026-07-17 18:19:52 +00:00
56fdba228f Update index.html
Fix latest-release download links

The homepage built the download and signature URLs from an outdated
filename scheme (bal_<tag>.zip / .asc). Update them to the current
release asset names: bal_electrum_plugin_<tag>.zip and .zip.sig.
2026-07-17 17:15:19 +00:00
8d89d3b272 fix(hero): correct release asset filename pattern (bal_{tag}.zip) 2026-07-17 09:34:54 -04:00
d71ffa8927 feat(hero): dynamic latest release tag + direct download links 2026-07-17 09:31:44 -04:00
cede26f504 Update index.html
updated plugin version v0.6.0
2026-07-17 13:15:24 +00:00
0d592c7416 Update index.html
update versione 0.6.0
2026-07-17 13:13:28 +00:00
e2f26246cd Upload files to "/"
Changed the plugin version and adjusted the GUI
2026-07-17 00:46:59 +00:00
e173dc0266 # release updated 2026-07-04 08:59:59 +00:00
fc43b86171 deleted index2.html, old file. 2026-07-04 08:57:39 +00:00
22 changed files with 2749 additions and 1994 deletions

350
blog.html Normal file

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 529 KiB

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 54 KiB

BIN
blog/img/seed-cover.jpg Normal file

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 106 KiB

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 12 KiB

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 76 KiB

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 15 KiB

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,305 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" class="nojs">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>It all starts with the seed — Bitcoin After Life</title>
<meta name="description" content="The Coldcard entropy incident is a reminder that everything in Bitcoin grows from the seed. Why Bitcoin After Life deliberately builds on Electrum instead of reinventing the wallet.">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:title" content="It all starts with the seed — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:description" content="The Coldcard entropy incident is a reminder that everything in Bitcoin grows from the seed. Why Bitcoin After Life deliberately builds on Electrum instead of reinventing the wallet.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@BitcoinAfterLif">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="It all starts with the seed — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="The Coldcard entropy incident is a reminder that everything in Bitcoin grows from the seed. Why Bitcoin After Life deliberately builds on Electrum instead of reinventing the wallet.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#2d6cdf">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html">
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/pitura/ico/Logo_nero.ico">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-16.png">
<script>
/* Runs before first paint: removes the `nojs` class set on <html>, so the
mobile menu button is only shown when it can actually work. */
document.documentElement.classList.remove('nojs');
</script>
<style>
:root{
--maxw:1120px;
--radius:10px;
--bg:#eef1f4;
--panel:#ffffff;
--ink:#1a2027;
--muted:#5b6672;
--line:#dfe4ea;
--line-strong:#cbd2da;
--accent:#2d6cdf;
--accent-soft:#e6eefc;
--display:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--body:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--mono:ui-monospace,"SF Mono",Menlo,Consolas,monospace;
--shadow:0 1px 2px rgba(20,30,50,.05);
--shadow-lg:0 6px 20px rgba(20,30,50,.08);
}
*{box-sizing:border-box}
html{scroll-behavior:smooth}
html,body{margin:0}
body{background:var(--bg);color:var(--ink);font-family:var(--body);
line-height:1.55;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased}
.wrap{max-width:var(--maxw);margin:0 auto;padding:0 20px}
a{color:var(--accent);text-decoration:none}
a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
/* ---------- Top bar (shared with home and manifesto) ---------- */
.topbar{position:sticky;top:0;z-index:30;background:rgba(255,255,255,.86);
backdrop-filter:saturate(150%) blur(8px);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line)}
.topbar .wrap{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:18px;height:60px}
.topbar .logo{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;font-family:var(--display);
font-weight:600;color:var(--ink)}
.topbar .logo img{width:30px;height:30px;display:block}
.topbar .logo span{font-size:15px;letter-spacing:-.01em}
.topbar nav{margin-left:auto;display:flex;gap:4px;flex-wrap:wrap}
.topbar nav a{color:var(--muted);font-size:13px;padding:7px 11px;border-radius:7px}
.topbar nav a:hover{color:var(--ink);background:var(--accent-soft);text-decoration:none}
.topbar nav a.active{color:var(--accent);font-weight:600;border:1px solid #cfe0fb;
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.topbar .x{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.navtoggle{
display:none;margin-left:auto;width:44px;height:44px;flex:none;
align-items:center;justify-content:center;
background:var(--panel);border:1px solid var(--line-strong);border-radius:9px;
color:var(--ink);cursor:pointer;padding:0;
}
.navtoggle:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}
.navtoggle .bars{display:block;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor;position:relative}
.navtoggle .bars::before,.navtoggle .bars::after{
content:"";position:absolute;left:0;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor}
.navtoggle .bars::before{top:-6px}
.navtoggle .bars::after{top:6px}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars{background:transparent}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::before{top:0;transform:rotate(45deg)}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::after{top:0;transform:rotate(-45deg)}
/* ---------- Footer (shared) ---------- */
footer{border-top:1px solid var(--line);margin-top:56px;padding:34px 0 40px;
color:var(--muted);font-size:14px;background:var(--panel)}
footer .sig{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);font-size:16px}
footer .links{display:flex;gap:16px;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:14px 0}
footer .built{font-size:13px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:8px}
@media (max-width:900px){
.navtoggle{display:inline-flex}
.topbar nav{
position:absolute;top:100%;left:0;right:0;
margin-left:0;display:none;flex-direction:column;gap:2px;flex-wrap:nowrap;
background:var(--panel);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
box-shadow:var(--shadow-lg);padding:10px 20px 16px;
}
.topbar nav.open{display:flex}
.topbar nav a{font-size:15.5px;padding:0 12px;min-height:44px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border-radius:8px}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){*{transition:none!important;scroll-behavior:auto!important}}
:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--accent);outline-offset:2px}
/*
Without JavaScript the panel cannot be toggled, so the links are shown
inline. On narrow screens they wrap under the logo and the bar is allowed
to grow, instead of being clipped by the fixed 60px height.
*/
.nojs .navtoggle{display:none}
.nojs .topbar nav{position:static;display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;
box-shadow:none;border-bottom:0;padding:0;margin-left:auto;background:transparent}
@media (max-width:900px){
.nojs .topbar .wrap{height:auto;min-height:56px;flex-wrap:wrap;padding-bottom:8px;gap:10px}
.nojs .topbar nav{margin-left:0;width:100%;gap:4px 6px}
.nojs .topbar nav a{font-size:14.5px;min-height:40px;padding:0 10px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:8px}
}
.post-head{padding:44px 0 30px;border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
background:radial-gradient(820px 280px at 50% -40%,var(--accent-soft),transparent 70%)}
.post-head .wrap{max-width:760px}
.post-head .eyebrow{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:12px;letter-spacing:.14em;
text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--accent);display:block;margin-bottom:14px}
.post-head h1{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:40px;
letter-spacing:-.02em;line-height:1.12;margin:0 0 14px}
.post-meta{display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:center;flex-wrap:wrap;
font-size:13px;color:var(--muted)}
.post-meta .dot{width:4px;height:4px;border-radius:50%;background:var(--line-strong)}
.article{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:34px 20px 8px}
.article p{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin:0 0 20px}
.article p strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article h2{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:25px;
letter-spacing:-.01em;margin:38px 0 14px;padding-bottom:10px;
border-bottom:1px solid var(--line-strong)}
.article ol{padding-left:22px;margin:0 0 20px}
.article li{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin-bottom:14px}
.article li strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article figure{margin:30px 0}
.article figure img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:var(--radius);
border:1px solid var(--line);box-shadow:var(--shadow)}
.article hr{border:0;border-top:1px solid var(--line-strong);margin:34px 0 22px}
.article .disclaimer{font-size:14px;color:var(--muted);font-style:italic;line-height:1.7}
.back{max-width:760px;margin:26px auto 0;padding:0 20px 8px}
.back a{font-size:14px;font-weight:600}
@media (max-width:700px){
.post-head{padding:30px 0 24px}
.post-head h1{font-size:29px}
.article{padding:28px 18px 8px}
.article h2{font-size:22px;margin-top:32px}
.article figure{margin:24px -18px}
.article figure img{border-radius:0;border-left:0;border-right:0}
}
@media (max-width:400px){
.post-head h1{font-size:25px}
.wrap{padding:0 15px}
.article{padding:24px 16px 8px}
.article figure{margin:22px -16px}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="topbar">
<div class="wrap">
<a class="logo" href="../index.html"><img src="../pitura/logo/Logo_nero.svg" alt="Bitcoin After Life logo"><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span></a>
<button class="navtoggle" id="navToggle" type="button"
aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="mainNav" aria-label="Open menu">
<span class="bars"></span>
</button>
<nav id="mainNav">
<a href="../index.html#features">Features</a>
<a href="../index.html#how">How it works</a>
<a href="../index.html#plugin">Plugin</a>
<a href="../index.html#faq">FAQ</a>
<a class="active" href="../blog.html">Blog</a>
<a href="../manifesto.html">Manifesto</a>
<a class="x" href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif" title="@BitcoinAfterLif on X">@X</a>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<main>
<header class="post-head">
<div class="wrap">
<span class="eyebrow">Blog</span>
<h1>It all starts with the seed</h1>
<div class="post-meta">
<time datetime="2026-08-03">3 August 2026</time>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span>8 min read</span>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<article class="article">
<figure>
<img src="img/seed-cover.jpg" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Geometric Seed — cover illustration">
</figure>
<h2>Forty minutes</h2>
<p>On 30 July 2026, in a window of roughly forty minutes, hundreds of Bitcoin addresses were emptied in a coordinated sweep. The first count spoke of about 594 BTC taken from some 500 addresses. Within a day, independent researchers raised the estimate to more than 1,082 BTC drained from nearly 1,200 wallets. Many of them had been dormant for years — the wallets of long-term holders who had done, by every common standard, everything right.</p>
<p>There was no phishing. No malware. No stolen device, no coerced signature, no compromised computer. The owners of those coins were attacked through something that happened years earlier, in the few seconds when their wallet was born: <strong>the generation of the seed</strong>.</p>
<p>Coinkite, the maker of the Coldcard hardware wallet, published a security advisory the same day. During a firmware library migration in early 2021, two random-number functions with matching interfaces had been confused: instead of drawing from the device's hardware true random number generator, seed creation could fall back to a weak software routine fed by predictable values such as the device's serial number and internal clock. Seeds generated on the Mk3 from firmware 4.0.1 (March 2021) onward were the most exposed; seeds generated on Mk4, Mk5 and Q devices before the emergency fixes carried roughly 72 bits of entropy instead of the expected 128.</p>
<p>To be clear about what that means: a properly generated 12-word seed is protected by a number of combinations so large that guessing it is, for all practical purposes, impossible. Cut the entropy down far enough, and "impossible" quietly becomes "a matter of compute budget". The owners never saw anything change. The words on their steel plates looked exactly the same. The weakness was invisible — until someone found it, enumerated the candidate seeds, and swept the funds.</p>
<h2>Everything grows from the root</h2>
<p>Bitcoin's entire security model is a chain that begins at one point: a large random number. From that number comes the seed; from the seed, the private keys; from the keys, the addresses; from the addresses, everything else — cold storage, multisig, timelocks, inheritance plans, all of it.</p>
<p>This chain has a property that is easy to state and easy to forget: <strong>it is only as strong as its first link</strong>. You can engrave your seed on titanium, lock it in a vault, split it across continents, sign every transaction from an air-gapped bunker — and none of it matters if the random number at the root was not random enough. If security is missing at the root, everything built on top of it is theatre.</p>
<p>That is why entropy is not an implementation detail. It is the foundation of ownership itself. And it is why the question <em>"how was this seed generated, and can I verify it?"</em> deserves at least as much attention as the questions people usually ask — which device to buy, which metal plate to engrave, which passphrase scheme to use.</p>
<h2>The limits of "don't trust, verify"</h2>
<p>Bitcoin's most repeated maxim is <em>don't trust, verify</em>. The Coldcard incident is a sobering lesson in how hard that maxim is to practice — and an honest analysis has to include an uncomfortable fact: <strong>Coldcard's firmware has always been open source.</strong> The vulnerable code sat in public view for more than four years. Openness was necessary, but it was not sufficient.</p>
<p>Coinkite itself offered a telling hypothesis about how the flaw was finally found: someone, they suggest, used AI to review old versions of the public firmware and stumbled upon the issue. More bitter still, the company had recently run its own AI-assisted security review — which found nothing.</p>
<p>So what actually protects a seed-generation path? Three things, and all three have to be present at once:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Openness</strong> — the code must be publicly readable. Without it, verification is impossible by definition.</li>
<li><strong>Breadth of review</strong> — openness only pays off when many independent eyes, over many years, actually look. A niche codebase, however public, can carry a subtle bug for half a decade.</li>
<li><strong>Practical verifiability</strong> — the user, or anyone acting on the user's behalf, must be realistically able to check what runs. A general-purpose computer running open software can be inspected end to end. The silicon inside a sealed device cannot: you can read the firmware, but you cannot look inside the chip that is supposed to produce the randomness. At some point, a closed physical box always asks for a residue of trust.</li>
</ol>
<p>None of this means hardware wallets are useless. Air-gapped signing genuinely protects against malware on your computer, and that threat is real. But the incident draws the boundary clearly: a hardware device can protect keys <em>after</em> they exist. It cannot make its own birth verifiable. And knowledge — understanding where your entropy comes from and how to check it — protects you in ways no purchased device can.</p>
<h2>Why we did not reinvent the wallet</h2>
<p>When we designed <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>, one decision came before all others: <strong>the protocol would live inside Electrum as a plug-in, not inside a new wallet of our own.</strong></p>
<p>It would have been more glamorous to ship "the BAL wallet". It also would have been irresponsible. An inheritance protocol asks people to plan across decades. Whoever asks for that kind of time horizon has a duty to build on the most scrutinized foundations available — not on code that is six months old, however carefully written.</p>
<p>Electrum has existed since 2011. It is one of the most reviewed pieces of Bitcoin software in the world, it has survived fifteen years of adversarial attention, and its seed handling is publicly documented down to the mathematics. A standard Electrum seed phrase carries <strong>132 bits of entropy</strong>, drawn from the operating system's cryptographically secure random number generator — a component that is not a niche codebase but one of the most heavily audited pieces of software on the planet, reviewed for decades by the entire security industry across every field that depends on it. On top of that, Electrum's documented seed-version design brings the effective cost of a brute-force attack to roughly 2<sup>135</sup> operations. These are not marketing figures; they are published, and anyone can check the code that implements them.</p>
<p>This is the meaning of a choice we made early and have repeated often: <strong>remaining a plug-in of one of the most tested wallets in the world is a deliberate design decision, not a fallback.</strong> We add exactly one thing — time-locked inheritance through nLockTime and the Will-Executor network — and we inherit everything else, including seed generation, from a codebase that has earned trust the only way trust is earned in this industry: by surviving.</p>
<p>Ask yourself the question we asked ourselves: would you leave your heirs' future in a wallet released last year? Are you able to go all the way and verify its code yourself? If the honest answer is no, then the age and the breadth of review of the foundation are not details. They are the whole point.</p>
<h2>Verification in the age of AI</h2>
<p>There is one genuinely new element in this story, and it deserves attention: the flaw was likely found — after four and a half years of human blindness — <strong>by a machine reading public code</strong>.</p>
<p>That cuts both ways. The same capability that armed an attacker is now in everyone's hands, and it changes the economics of <em>don't trust, verify</em>. Reviewing a seed-generation path used to require rare expertise and long hours. Today, anyone can take the open code of their wallet, hand it to a capable AI model, and ask pointed questions: <em>Where does the entropy come from? Is there any fallback path? Under what conditions could this produce a predictable seed?</em> An AI review is not a guarantee — Coinkite's own attempt proves that — but it raises the floor dramatically, and it turns verification from a specialist's privilege into an ordinary habit.</p>
<p>Our position is simple: <strong>a verification of the seed-generation technology should always be done</strong> — before funds are deposited, and again when the software is updated. This is only possible with open code running on hardware you can inspect. It is one more reason the closed box, however well built, sits uneasily with Bitcoin's founding rule.</p>
<h2>What this means for inheritance</h2>
<p>An inheritance plan compounds every assumption you make today across the decades it must survive. A weakness that is merely theoretical over one year becomes a real risk over thirty. The Coldcard sweep targeted dormant addresses — precisely the profile of long-term, set-aside funds. Precisely the profile of an inheritance.</p>
<p>This is why <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>'s architecture keeps returning to the same principles: use Bitcoin's native, consensus-level features (nLockTime) rather than novel constructions; rely on incentives rather than promises; renew the inheritance transaction every two to three years, so the plan absorbs protocol improvements and lessons like this one; and build only on code that the world has been attacking, and failing to break, for many years.</p>
<p>And one practical note, because it matters more than any argument: if you generated a seed on an affected Coldcard device since March 2021, follow Coinkite's advisory — update the firmware, generate a new seed on corrected software, and move your funds. Whatever wallet you use, your inheritance plan is only as good as the seed underneath it.</p>
<h2>Conclusion: the root comes first</h2>
<p>The lesson of 30 July is not that one vendor failed. Every codebase can carry a bug, and Coinkite's transparency after the fact was the correct response. The lesson is older and simpler: <strong>everything starts with the seed</strong>. If randomness is missing at the root, no vault, no steel, no air gap and no inheritance protocol can compensate. Security is not something you add on top; it is something you either have at the foundation or do not have at all.</p>
<p>We chose not to reinvent the wallet. We chose the foundation with fifteen years of scars, public mathematics, and entropy drawn from the most reviewed code on earth. Boring choices, made deliberately — because your heirs will not care how innovative your wallet looked. They will care that the seed was made the way a seed should be made.</p>
<p>Those who want to dig deeper will find the Electrum plug-in, instructions, and practical examples at <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bitcoin-after.life</a>. The code is open source, verifiable by anyone — with your own eyes, or with an AI at your side.</p>
<p>Verify the root. Everything else follows.</p>
<hr>
<p class="disclaimer">This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or security advice. Facts about the 30 July 2026 incident reflect public reporting and Coinkite's advisory at the time of writing; consult the vendor's official communications for up-to-date guidance on affected devices.</p>
</article>
<div class="back">
<a href="../blog.html">← Back to the blog</a>
</div>
</main>
<footer>
<div class="wrap">
<div class="sig">Svātantrya</div>
<div>Signed — <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> Protocol</div>
<div class="links">
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life">bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="mailto:info@bitcoin-after.life">info@bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif">@BitcoinAfterLif</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/pgp">PGP Key</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife">Source Code</a>
</div>
<div class="built">Built with ₿itcoin. No FIAT was used in the making of this protocol.</div>
</div>
</footer>
<script>
/* Mobile menu toggle -- identical behaviour across all pages. */
(function () {
const toggle = document.getElementById('navToggle');
const nav = document.getElementById('mainNav');
if (!toggle || !nav) return;
function setOpen(open) {
nav.classList.toggle('open', open);
toggle.setAttribute('aria-expanded', open ? 'true' : 'false');
toggle.setAttribute('aria-label', open ? 'Close menu' : 'Open menu');
}
toggle.addEventListener('click', function () {
setOpen(!nav.classList.contains('open'));
});
nav.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
if (e.target.tagName === 'A') setOpen(false);
});
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
if (e.key === 'Escape') setOpen(false);
});
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,304 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" class="nojs">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Run a Will-Executor: Earn Bitcoin Fees by Powering Decentralized Inheritance — Bitcoin After Life</title>
<meta name="description" content="Every BAL inheritance transaction carries a fee for the server that broadcasts it — paid in Bitcoin, only on success. Why running a Will-Executor is a long-term, Bitcoin-native earning opportunity.">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:title" content="Run a Will-Executor: Earn Bitcoin Fees by Powering Decentralized Inheritance — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:description" content="Every BAL inheritance transaction carries a fee for the server that broadcasts it — paid in Bitcoin, only on success. Why running a Will-Executor is a long-term, Bitcoin-native earning opportunity.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/run-a-will-executor.html">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@BitcoinAfterLif">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Run a Will-Executor: Earn Bitcoin Fees by Powering Decentralized Inheritance — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Every BAL inheritance transaction carries a fee for the server that broadcasts it — paid in Bitcoin, only on success. Why running a Will-Executor is a long-term, Bitcoin-native earning opportunity.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#2d6cdf">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/run-a-will-executor.html">
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/pitura/ico/Logo_nero.ico">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-16.png">
<script>
/* Runs before first paint: removes the `nojs` class set on <html>, so the
mobile menu button is only shown when it can actually work. */
document.documentElement.classList.remove('nojs');
</script>
<style>
:root{
--maxw:1120px;
--radius:10px;
--bg:#eef1f4;
--panel:#ffffff;
--ink:#1a2027;
--muted:#5b6672;
--line:#dfe4ea;
--line-strong:#cbd2da;
--accent:#2d6cdf;
--accent-soft:#e6eefc;
--display:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--body:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--mono:ui-monospace,"SF Mono",Menlo,Consolas,monospace;
--shadow:0 1px 2px rgba(20,30,50,.05);
--shadow-lg:0 6px 20px rgba(20,30,50,.08);
}
*{box-sizing:border-box}
html{scroll-behavior:smooth}
html,body{margin:0}
body{background:var(--bg);color:var(--ink);font-family:var(--body);
line-height:1.55;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased}
.wrap{max-width:var(--maxw);margin:0 auto;padding:0 20px}
a{color:var(--accent);text-decoration:none}
a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
/* ---------- Top bar (shared with home and manifesto) ---------- */
.topbar{position:sticky;top:0;z-index:30;background:rgba(255,255,255,.86);
backdrop-filter:saturate(150%) blur(8px);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line)}
.topbar .wrap{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:18px;height:60px}
.topbar .logo{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;font-family:var(--display);
font-weight:600;color:var(--ink)}
.topbar .logo img{width:30px;height:30px;display:block}
.topbar .logo span{font-size:15px;letter-spacing:-.01em}
.topbar nav{margin-left:auto;display:flex;gap:4px;flex-wrap:wrap}
.topbar nav a{color:var(--muted);font-size:13px;padding:7px 11px;border-radius:7px}
.topbar nav a:hover{color:var(--ink);background:var(--accent-soft);text-decoration:none}
.topbar nav a.active{color:var(--accent);font-weight:600;border:1px solid #cfe0fb;
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.topbar .x{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.navtoggle{
display:none;margin-left:auto;width:44px;height:44px;flex:none;
align-items:center;justify-content:center;
background:var(--panel);border:1px solid var(--line-strong);border-radius:9px;
color:var(--ink);cursor:pointer;padding:0;
}
.navtoggle:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}
.navtoggle .bars{display:block;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor;position:relative}
.navtoggle .bars::before,.navtoggle .bars::after{
content:"";position:absolute;left:0;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor}
.navtoggle .bars::before{top:-6px}
.navtoggle .bars::after{top:6px}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars{background:transparent}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::before{top:0;transform:rotate(45deg)}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::after{top:0;transform:rotate(-45deg)}
/* ---------- Footer (shared) ---------- */
footer{border-top:1px solid var(--line);margin-top:56px;padding:34px 0 40px;
color:var(--muted);font-size:14px;background:var(--panel)}
footer .sig{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);font-size:16px}
footer .links{display:flex;gap:16px;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:14px 0}
footer .built{font-size:13px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:8px}
@media (max-width:900px){
.navtoggle{display:inline-flex}
.topbar nav{
position:absolute;top:100%;left:0;right:0;
margin-left:0;display:none;flex-direction:column;gap:2px;flex-wrap:nowrap;
background:var(--panel);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
box-shadow:var(--shadow-lg);padding:10px 20px 16px;
}
.topbar nav.open{display:flex}
.topbar nav a{font-size:15.5px;padding:0 12px;min-height:44px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border-radius:8px}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){*{transition:none!important;scroll-behavior:auto!important}}
:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--accent);outline-offset:2px}
/*
Without JavaScript the panel cannot be toggled, so the links are shown
inline. On narrow screens they wrap under the logo and the bar is allowed
to grow, instead of being clipped by the fixed 60px height.
*/
.nojs .navtoggle{display:none}
.nojs .topbar nav{position:static;display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;
box-shadow:none;border-bottom:0;padding:0;margin-left:auto;background:transparent}
@media (max-width:900px){
.nojs .topbar .wrap{height:auto;min-height:56px;flex-wrap:wrap;padding-bottom:8px;gap:10px}
.nojs .topbar nav{margin-left:0;width:100%;gap:4px 6px}
.nojs .topbar nav a{font-size:14.5px;min-height:40px;padding:0 10px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:8px}
}
.post-head{padding:44px 0 30px;border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
background:radial-gradient(820px 280px at 50% -40%,var(--accent-soft),transparent 70%)}
.post-head .wrap{max-width:760px}
.post-head .eyebrow{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:12px;letter-spacing:.14em;
text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--accent);display:block;margin-bottom:14px}
.post-head h1{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:40px;
letter-spacing:-.02em;line-height:1.12;margin:0 0 14px}
.post-meta{display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:center;flex-wrap:wrap;
font-size:13px;color:var(--muted)}
.post-meta .dot{width:4px;height:4px;border-radius:50%;background:var(--line-strong)}
.article{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:34px 20px 8px}
.article p{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin:0 0 20px}
.article p strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article h2{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:25px;
letter-spacing:-.01em;margin:38px 0 14px;padding-bottom:10px;
border-bottom:1px solid var(--line-strong)}
.article ol{padding-left:22px;margin:0 0 20px}
.article li{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin-bottom:14px}
.article li strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article figure{margin:30px 0}
.article figure img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:var(--radius);
border:1px solid var(--line);box-shadow:var(--shadow)}
.article hr{border:0;border-top:1px solid var(--line-strong);margin:34px 0 22px}
.article .disclaimer{font-size:14px;color:var(--muted);font-style:italic;line-height:1.7}
.back{max-width:760px;margin:26px auto 0;padding:0 20px 8px}
.back a{font-size:14px;font-weight:600}
@media (max-width:700px){
.post-head{padding:30px 0 24px}
.post-head h1{font-size:29px}
.article{padding:28px 18px 8px}
.article h2{font-size:22px;margin-top:32px}
.article figure{margin:24px -18px}
.article figure img{border-radius:0;border-left:0;border-right:0}
}
@media (max-width:400px){
.post-head h1{font-size:25px}
.wrap{padding:0 15px}
.article{padding:24px 16px 8px}
.article figure{margin:22px -16px}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="topbar">
<div class="wrap">
<a class="logo" href="../index.html"><img src="../pitura/logo/Logo_nero.svg" alt="Bitcoin After Life logo"><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span></a>
<button class="navtoggle" id="navToggle" type="button"
aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="mainNav" aria-label="Open menu">
<span class="bars"></span>
</button>
<nav id="mainNav">
<a href="../index.html#features">Features</a>
<a href="../index.html#how">How it works</a>
<a href="../index.html#plugin">Plugin</a>
<a href="../index.html#faq">FAQ</a>
<a class="active" href="../blog.html">Blog</a>
<a href="../manifesto.html">Manifesto</a>
<a class="x" href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif" title="@BitcoinAfterLif on X">@X</a>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<main>
<header class="post-head">
<div class="wrap">
<span class="eyebrow">Blog</span>
<h1>Run a Will-Executor: Earn Bitcoin Fees by Powering Decentralized Inheritance</h1>
<div class="post-meta">
<time datetime="2026-08-30">30 August 2026</time>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span>5 min read</span>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<article class="article">
<figure>
<img src="img/run-a-will-executor-cover.webp" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="An isometric server node connected to a Bitcoin block chain, representing a Will-Executor">
</figure>
<p>Every protocol has a heartbeat. In <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>, that heartbeat is the <strong>Will-Executor</strong> network: independent servers around the world that store signed, time-locked inheritance transactions and broadcast them when their delivery date arrives. Without executors, there is no protocol. And here's the part most people miss: <strong>anyone can run one — and get paid in Bitcoin for doing it.</strong></p>
<p>This article explains what running a Will-Executor actually involves, how the economics work, and why we believe it is one of the most interesting long-term, Bitcoin-native earning opportunities nobody is talking about yet.</p>
<h2>What a Will-Executor actually does</h2>
<p>Strip away the name and a Will-Executor is a beautifully simple service. It:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Receives</strong> fully signed, time-locked inheritance transactions from BAL plugin users.</li>
<li><strong>Stores</strong> them safely — sometimes for years.</li>
<li><strong>Broadcasts</strong> each transaction to the Bitcoin network on its delivery date.</li>
</ol>
<p>That's all. The server cannot modify the transactions (they are already signed), cannot execute them early (Bitcoin's consensus rules reject them before the locktime), and cannot see anything beyond what the transaction itself reveals. It is infrastructure, not a fiduciary.</p>
<p>Technically, the requirements are modest. You don't need a datacenter or specialized hardware — the <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife/bal-server" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BAL server</a> is open source, and a reliable, always-on machine with modest resources is enough to start. Once running, you can list your server on the public <a href="https://welist.bitcoin-after.life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WeList directory</a>, where plugin users discover and select executors for their wills.</p>
<h2>The economics: paid on success, in Bitcoin, forever</h2>
<p>The incentive design is deliberately simple and entirely on-chain:</p>
<ul style="padding-left:22px">
<li>Every inheritance transaction created by the BAL plugin includes a <strong>fee output for the Will-Executor</strong>.</li>
<li>That fee is paid <strong>only when the transaction is broadcast and confirms</strong> on the blockchain. No execution, no payment. The incentive to store carefully and broadcast punctually is built into the money itself.</li>
<li>If several executors hold the same inheritance, <strong>the first to broadcast it wins the fee</strong>. This race is a feature: it makes every executor eager to be online, honest, and fast on delivery day.</li>
<li>Fees are denominated in <strong>Bitcoin</strong> — not in a token, not in points, not in a promise. As Bitcoin's value grows over the years between a will's creation and its execution, the real-world value of every stored will grows with it.</li>
</ul>
<p>That last point deserves emphasis. A Will-Executor accumulates a portfolio of future-dated, Bitcoin-denominated claims. Each one is a small, probabilistic, long-duration asset — closer to holding a book of very patient options than to running a conventional service. The protocol is designed for inheritances that may execute ten, twenty, thirty years from now. The executor business is a bet on longevity: the protocol's, and your server's.</p>
<h2>Why the network needs you</h2>
<p>Decentralized inheritance has a bootstrapping problem that is the mirror image of Bitcoin's own early days: the system is only as strong as its redundancy.</p>
<p>The BAL plugin creates one transaction per selected Will-Executor precisely because <strong>only one of them needs to survive until the delivery date</strong>. Redundancy is the guarantee. But that guarantee gets stronger with every independent operator who joins:</p>
<ul style="padding-left:22px">
<li><strong>More executors = more resilience.</strong> Geographic, jurisdictional, and operational diversity means no single outage, seizure, or bankruptcy can break the chain of inheritance.</li>
<li><strong>More executors = more credibility.</strong> Users choosing servers from the WeList want to see a living, competitive directory, not a monoculture.</li>
<li><strong>More executors = earlier fees.</strong> A larger network attracts more users, and more users mean more wills stored — the fee pipeline starts flowing sooner for everyone.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you believed in running a Bitcoin node when it was "useless," or mining when it was a hobby, this will feel familiar: critical infrastructure, run by volunteers-turned-stakeholders, rewarded later than expected and more than expected.</p>
<h2>Getting started</h2>
<ol>
<li>Read <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/will-executors/what-they-are.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What Will-Executors are</a> in the manual for the full mental model.</li>
<li>Follow <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/will-executors/running-a-server.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Running a Will-Executor</a> for the setup walkthrough — the code is MIT-licensed and open for audit.</li>
<li>Add your server to the <a href="https://welist.bitcoin-after.life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WeList</a> so users can find and select you.</li>
<li>Stay online, stay honest, and let time — and the timelocks — do the rest.</li>
</ol>
<h2>The long game</h2>
<p>Bitcoin turned "being your own bank" from a slogan into software. <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> is doing the same for "leaving something behind." But protocols don't run themselves: behind every inheritance that arrives exactly on schedule, decades after it was written, there will be a server that kept its promise — and collected its fee.</p>
<p>That server could be yours.</p>
<p><em>Bitcoin After Life is open source and Bitcoin-only. Explore the code on <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gitea</a>, browse the executor directory at <a href="https://welist.bitcoin-after.life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">welist.bitcoin-after.life</a>, and read the full documentation at <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bitcoin-after.life/docs</a>.</em></p>
</article>
<div class="back">
<a href="../blog.html">← Back to the blog</a>
</div>
</main>
<footer>
<div class="wrap">
<div class="sig">Svātantrya</div>
<div>Signed — <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> Protocol</div>
<div class="links">
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life">bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="mailto:info@bitcoin-after.life">info@bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif">@BitcoinAfterLif</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/pgp">PGP Key</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife">Source Code</a>
</div>
<div class="built">Built with ₿itcoin. No FIAT was used in the making of this protocol.</div>
</div>
</footer>
<script>
/* Mobile menu toggle -- identical behaviour across all pages. */
(function () {
const toggle = document.getElementById('navToggle');
const nav = document.getElementById('mainNav');
if (!toggle || !nav) return;
function setOpen(open) {
nav.classList.toggle('open', open);
toggle.setAttribute('aria-expanded', open ? 'true' : 'false');
toggle.setAttribute('aria-label', open ? 'Close menu' : 'Open menu');
}
toggle.addEventListener('click', function () {
setOpen(!nav.classList.contains('open'));
});
nav.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
if (e.target.tagName === 'A') setOpen(false);
});
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
if (e.key === 'Escape') setOpen(false);
});
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,323 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" class="nojs">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>What Can a Will-Executor Actually See? Privacy in the BAL Protocol — Bitcoin After Life</title>
<meta name="description" content="A Will-Executor holds one signed, time-locked transaction — nothing else. Exactly what it can see, what it cannot, and why privacy here comes from architecture, not from a policy.">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:title" content="What Can a Will-Executor Actually See? Privacy in the BAL Protocol — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:description" content="A Will-Executor holds one signed, time-locked transaction — nothing else. Exactly what it can see, what it cannot, and why privacy here comes from architecture, not from a policy.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/what-a-will-executor-can-see.html">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@BitcoinAfterLif">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="What Can a Will-Executor Actually See? Privacy in the BAL Protocol — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="A Will-Executor holds one signed, time-locked transaction — nothing else. Exactly what it can see, what it cannot, and why privacy here comes from architecture, not from a policy.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#2d6cdf">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/what-a-will-executor-can-see.html">
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/pitura/ico/Logo_nero.ico">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-16.png">
<script>
/* Runs before first paint: removes the `nojs` class set on <html>, so the
mobile menu button is only shown when it can actually work. */
document.documentElement.classList.remove('nojs');
</script>
<style>
:root{
--maxw:1120px;
--radius:10px;
--bg:#eef1f4;
--panel:#ffffff;
--ink:#1a2027;
--muted:#5b6672;
--line:#dfe4ea;
--line-strong:#cbd2da;
--accent:#2d6cdf;
--accent-soft:#e6eefc;
--display:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--body:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--mono:ui-monospace,"SF Mono",Menlo,Consolas,monospace;
--shadow:0 1px 2px rgba(20,30,50,.05);
--shadow-lg:0 6px 20px rgba(20,30,50,.08);
}
*{box-sizing:border-box}
html{scroll-behavior:smooth}
html,body{margin:0}
body{background:var(--bg);color:var(--ink);font-family:var(--body);
line-height:1.55;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased}
.wrap{max-width:var(--maxw);margin:0 auto;padding:0 20px}
a{color:var(--accent);text-decoration:none}
a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
/* ---------- Top bar (shared with home and manifesto) ---------- */
.topbar{position:sticky;top:0;z-index:30;background:rgba(255,255,255,.86);
backdrop-filter:saturate(150%) blur(8px);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line)}
.topbar .wrap{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:18px;height:60px}
.topbar .logo{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;font-family:var(--display);
font-weight:600;color:var(--ink)}
.topbar .logo img{width:30px;height:30px;display:block}
.topbar .logo span{font-size:15px;letter-spacing:-.01em}
.topbar nav{margin-left:auto;display:flex;gap:4px;flex-wrap:wrap}
.topbar nav a{color:var(--muted);font-size:13px;padding:7px 11px;border-radius:7px}
.topbar nav a:hover{color:var(--ink);background:var(--accent-soft);text-decoration:none}
.topbar nav a.active{color:var(--accent);font-weight:600;border:1px solid #cfe0fb;
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.topbar .x{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.navtoggle{
display:none;margin-left:auto;width:44px;height:44px;flex:none;
align-items:center;justify-content:center;
background:var(--panel);border:1px solid var(--line-strong);border-radius:9px;
color:var(--ink);cursor:pointer;padding:0;
}
.navtoggle:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}
.navtoggle .bars{display:block;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor;position:relative}
.navtoggle .bars::before,.navtoggle .bars::after{
content:"";position:absolute;left:0;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor}
.navtoggle .bars::before{top:-6px}
.navtoggle .bars::after{top:6px}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars{background:transparent}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::before{top:0;transform:rotate(45deg)}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::after{top:0;transform:rotate(-45deg)}
/* ---------- Footer (shared) ---------- */
footer{border-top:1px solid var(--line);margin-top:56px;padding:34px 0 40px;
color:var(--muted);font-size:14px;background:var(--panel)}
footer .sig{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);font-size:16px}
footer .links{display:flex;gap:16px;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:14px 0}
footer .built{font-size:13px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:8px}
@media (max-width:900px){
.navtoggle{display:inline-flex}
.topbar nav{
position:absolute;top:100%;left:0;right:0;
margin-left:0;display:none;flex-direction:column;gap:2px;flex-wrap:nowrap;
background:var(--panel);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
box-shadow:var(--shadow-lg);padding:10px 20px 16px;
}
.topbar nav.open{display:flex}
.topbar nav a{font-size:15.5px;padding:0 12px;min-height:44px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border-radius:8px}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){*{transition:none!important;scroll-behavior:auto!important}}
:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--accent);outline-offset:2px}
/*
Without JavaScript the panel cannot be toggled, so the links are shown
inline. On narrow screens they wrap under the logo and the bar is allowed
to grow, instead of being clipped by the fixed 60px height.
*/
.nojs .navtoggle{display:none}
.nojs .topbar nav{position:static;display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;
box-shadow:none;border-bottom:0;padding:0;margin-left:auto;background:transparent}
@media (max-width:900px){
.nojs .topbar .wrap{height:auto;min-height:56px;flex-wrap:wrap;padding-bottom:8px;gap:10px}
.nojs .topbar nav{margin-left:0;width:100%;gap:4px 6px}
.nojs .topbar nav a{font-size:14.5px;min-height:40px;padding:0 10px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:8px}
}
.post-head{padding:44px 0 30px;border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
background:radial-gradient(820px 280px at 50% -40%,var(--accent-soft),transparent 70%)}
.post-head .wrap{max-width:760px}
.post-head .eyebrow{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:12px;letter-spacing:.14em;
text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--accent);display:block;margin-bottom:14px}
.post-head h1{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:40px;
letter-spacing:-.02em;line-height:1.12;margin:0 0 14px}
.post-meta{display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:center;flex-wrap:wrap;
font-size:13px;color:var(--muted)}
.post-meta .dot{width:4px;height:4px;border-radius:50%;background:var(--line-strong)}
.article{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:34px 20px 8px}
.article p{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin:0 0 20px}
.article p strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article h2{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:25px;
letter-spacing:-.01em;margin:38px 0 14px;padding-bottom:10px;
border-bottom:1px solid var(--line-strong)}
.article ol{padding-left:22px;margin:0 0 20px}
.article li{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin-bottom:14px}
.article li strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article figure{margin:30px 0}
.article figure img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:var(--radius);
border:1px solid var(--line);box-shadow:var(--shadow)}
.article hr{border:0;border-top:1px solid var(--line-strong);margin:34px 0 22px}
.article .disclaimer{font-size:14px;color:var(--muted);font-style:italic;line-height:1.7}
/*
Comparison table, same treatment as the Electrum post: the wrapper scrolls
on narrow screens so the page body never scrolls sideways.
*/
.article .tablewrap{overflow-x:auto;margin:0 0 22px;-webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch}
.article table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15.5px;min-width:480px}
.article th,.article td{text-align:left;padding:11px 14px;border:1px solid var(--line);
line-height:1.6;color:#36404b;vertical-align:top}
.article th{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.back{max-width:760px;margin:26px auto 0;padding:0 20px 8px}
.back a{font-size:14px;font-weight:600}
@media (max-width:700px){
.post-head{padding:30px 0 24px}
.post-head h1{font-size:29px}
.article{padding:28px 18px 8px}
.article h2{font-size:22px;margin-top:32px}
.article figure{margin:24px -18px}
.article figure img{border-radius:0;border-left:0;border-right:0}
}
@media (max-width:400px){
.post-head h1{font-size:25px}
.wrap{padding:0 15px}
.article{padding:24px 16px 8px}
.article figure{margin:22px -16px}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="topbar">
<div class="wrap">
<a class="logo" href="../index.html"><img src="../pitura/logo/Logo_nero.svg" alt="Bitcoin After Life logo"><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span></a>
<button class="navtoggle" id="navToggle" type="button"
aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="mainNav" aria-label="Open menu">
<span class="bars"></span>
</button>
<nav id="mainNav">
<a href="../index.html#features">Features</a>
<a href="../index.html#how">How it works</a>
<a href="../index.html#plugin">Plugin</a>
<a href="../index.html#faq">FAQ</a>
<a class="active" href="../blog.html">Blog</a>
<a href="../manifesto.html">Manifesto</a>
<a class="x" href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif" title="@BitcoinAfterLif on X">@X</a>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<main>
<header class="post-head">
<div class="wrap">
<span class="eyebrow">Blog</span>
<h1>What Can a Will-Executor Actually See? Privacy in the BAL Protocol</h1>
<div class="post-meta">
<time datetime="2026-09-06">6 September 2026</time>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span>4 min read</span>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<article class="article">
<figure>
<img src="img/what-a-will-executor-can-see-cover.webp" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="A blue shield bearing the Bitcoin symbol covers an eye in front of a document — what a Will-Executor can and cannot see">
</figure>
<p>When you hand something to a third party — even an automated one — the first question a careful Bitcoiner asks is: <em>what do they learn about me?</em></p>
<p>It's the right question. Traditional inheritance is a privacy disaster by design: a notary learns your identity, your family structure, your assets, and your heirs' identities, and all of it ends up in records that can be subpoenaed, leaked, or — in many jurisdictions — made public after probate. Custodial services are worse: they hold your coins <em>and</em> your data.</p>
<p><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> was built to need no third party at all. But it does involve Will-Executor servers, so let's answer the privacy question precisely, without marketing fog: <strong>here is exactly what a Will-Executor can see, and what it cannot.</strong></p>
<h2>What a Will-Executor holds</h2>
<p>A Will-Executor stores one thing: your <strong>signed, time-locked inheritance transaction</strong>. Nothing else travels to the server — no identity, no email, no account, no documents. The BAL plugin doesn't ask who you are, because the protocol doesn't need to know.</p>
<p>From that transaction, an executor — like anyone who inspects a raw Bitcoin transaction — can technically observe:</p>
<ul style="padding-left:22px">
<li><strong>The inputs:</strong> the specific UTXOs your inheritance will spend, and therefore the amount they contain.</li>
<li><strong>The outputs:</strong> your heirs' addresses, their shares, and the executor fee.</li>
<li><strong>The locktime:</strong> the delivery date after which the transaction becomes valid.</li>
</ul>
<p>That is the complete list. Let's now look at the much longer list of what remains invisible.</p>
<h2>What a Will-Executor cannot see</h2>
<p><strong>Your identity.</strong> There is no account system, no KYC, no registration. To a Will-Executor you are a transaction, not a person. Bitcoin addresses are pseudonymous by design — the server sees strings of characters, not names.</p>
<p><strong>The rest of your wallet.</strong> The transaction reveals only the UTXOs it spends. Your other addresses, your total holdings, your transaction history beyond those specific coins: none of it is exposed by the protocol. The executor sees the inheritance, not your wealth.</p>
<p><strong>Your heirs' identities.</strong> Heirs appear as addresses. A name, a face, a relationship — none of that is in a Bitcoin transaction, and none of it is in what BAL sends.</p>
<p><strong>Your activity and your lifetime.</strong> Executors cannot tell whether you're alive, active, traveling, or simply quiet. The Check Alive mechanism that postpones your delivery date works through your own wallet — the server doesn't track you, ping you, or monitor you. There is no surveillance built into the protocol, because there is no need for any.</p>
<p><strong>Any way to profit from what it sees.</strong> This is the crucial point. Even the limited information above is useless for abuse: the transaction is already fully signed, so it cannot be altered; it is time-locked, so it cannot be broadcast early; and its outputs are fixed, so not a single satoshi can be redirected. A Will-Executor that tried to front-run, censor, or manipulate would gain nothing — and would lose its fee, which is only paid when the inheritance executes exactly as written.</p>
<h2>Privacy by architecture, not by policy</h2>
<p>Most services protect your data with a privacy <em>policy</em> — a legal promise that can change with an acquisition, a subpoena, or a new CEO. BAL protects it with <em>architecture</em>: the protocol was designed so that the sensitive data never exists on the server in the first place.</p>
<div class="tablewrap">
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>What traditional inheritance exposes</th><th>What BAL exposes</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Your legal identity</td><td>Nothing — no accounts</td></tr>
<tr><td>Full inventory of your assets</td><td>Only the UTXOs in the transaction</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heirs' names and relationships</td><td>Heirs' addresses only</td></tr>
<tr><td>Family structure, stored in public records</td><td>Nothing — no records exist</td></tr>
<tr><td>Protected by: a privacy policy</td><td>Protected by: protocol design</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>You cannot leak what you never collected.</p>
<h2>Optional hardening for the privacy-conscious</h2>
<p>The protocol's defaults are already strong, but Bitcoin hygiene adds another layer:</p>
<ul style="padding-left:22px">
<li><strong>Use fresh addresses for your heirs.</strong> Electrum generates new addresses freely; an address that has never appeared on-chain carries no history to analyze.</li>
<li><strong>Consider multiple executors.</strong> Splitting your will across several Will-Executors from the WeList is primarily a redundancy feature — but it also means no single server is your only counterparty.</li>
<li><strong>Review before you send.</strong> The plugin always lets you inspect the generated transactions before anything is transmitted. Verify the outputs yourself; trust is not required.</li>
</ul>
<h2>The honest summary</h2>
<p>A Will-Executor sees one signed transaction: some addresses, some amounts, a date. It does not know who you are, what else you own, or who your heirs are — and the cryptography guarantees it can do nothing harmful even with what little it sees.</p>
<p>Compare that with the alternative: a folder in a lawyer's cabinet containing your name, your family's names, and the full list of what you own.</p>
<p>Inheritance used to require giving up your privacy to be safe. We built BAL so you could keep both.</p>
<p><em>Want the technical detail? The full protocol walkthrough is in the <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/protocol/how-it-works.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manual</a>, and both the <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife/bal-electrum-plugin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plugin</a> and the <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife/bal-server" target="_blank" rel="noopener">server</a> are open source — verify, don't trust.</em></p>
</article>
<div class="back">
<a href="../blog.html">← Back to the blog</a>
</div>
</main>
<footer>
<div class="wrap">
<div class="sig">Svātantrya</div>
<div>Signed — <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> Protocol</div>
<div class="links">
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life">bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="mailto:info@bitcoin-after.life">info@bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif">@BitcoinAfterLif</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/pgp">PGP Key</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife">Source Code</a>
</div>
<div class="built">Built with ₿itcoin. No FIAT was used in the making of this protocol.</div>
</div>
</footer>
<script>
/* Mobile menu toggle -- identical behaviour across all pages. */
(function () {
const toggle = document.getElementById('navToggle');
const nav = document.getElementById('mainNav');
if (!toggle || !nav) return;
function setOpen(open) {
nav.classList.toggle('open', open);
toggle.setAttribute('aria-expanded', open ? 'true' : 'false');
toggle.setAttribute('aria-label', open ? 'Close menu' : 'Open menu');
}
toggle.addEventListener('click', function () {
setOpen(!nav.classList.contains('open'));
});
nav.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
if (e.target.tagName === 'A') setOpen(false);
});
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
if (e.key === 'Escape') setOpen(false);
});
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,292 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" class="nojs">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>What Happens to Your Bitcoin When You're Gone? — Bitcoin After Life</title>
<meta name="description" content="Self-custody means no one can seize your bitcoin — and no one can help your family if you're gone either. Why time-locked transactions are the honest answer to Bitcoin inheritance.">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:title" content="What Happens to Your Bitcoin When You're Gone? — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:description" content="Self-custody means no one can seize your bitcoin — and no one can help your family if you're gone either. Why time-locked transactions are the honest answer to Bitcoin inheritance.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/what-happens-to-your-bitcoin.html">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@BitcoinAfterLif">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="What Happens to Your Bitcoin When You're Gone? — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Self-custody means no one can seize your bitcoin — and no one can help your family if you're gone either. Why time-locked transactions are the honest answer to Bitcoin inheritance.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#2d6cdf">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/what-happens-to-your-bitcoin.html">
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/pitura/ico/Logo_nero.ico">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-16.png">
<script>
/* Runs before first paint: removes the `nojs` class set on <html>, so the
mobile menu button is only shown when it can actually work. */
document.documentElement.classList.remove('nojs');
</script>
<style>
:root{
--maxw:1120px;
--radius:10px;
--bg:#eef1f4;
--panel:#ffffff;
--ink:#1a2027;
--muted:#5b6672;
--line:#dfe4ea;
--line-strong:#cbd2da;
--accent:#2d6cdf;
--accent-soft:#e6eefc;
--display:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--body:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--mono:ui-monospace,"SF Mono",Menlo,Consolas,monospace;
--shadow:0 1px 2px rgba(20,30,50,.05);
--shadow-lg:0 6px 20px rgba(20,30,50,.08);
}
*{box-sizing:border-box}
html{scroll-behavior:smooth}
html,body{margin:0}
body{background:var(--bg);color:var(--ink);font-family:var(--body);
line-height:1.55;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased}
.wrap{max-width:var(--maxw);margin:0 auto;padding:0 20px}
a{color:var(--accent);text-decoration:none}
a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
/* ---------- Top bar (shared with home and manifesto) ---------- */
.topbar{position:sticky;top:0;z-index:30;background:rgba(255,255,255,.86);
backdrop-filter:saturate(150%) blur(8px);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line)}
.topbar .wrap{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:18px;height:60px}
.topbar .logo{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;font-family:var(--display);
font-weight:600;color:var(--ink)}
.topbar .logo img{width:30px;height:30px;display:block}
.topbar .logo span{font-size:15px;letter-spacing:-.01em}
.topbar nav{margin-left:auto;display:flex;gap:4px;flex-wrap:wrap}
.topbar nav a{color:var(--muted);font-size:13px;padding:7px 11px;border-radius:7px}
.topbar nav a:hover{color:var(--ink);background:var(--accent-soft);text-decoration:none}
.topbar nav a.active{color:var(--accent);font-weight:600;border:1px solid #cfe0fb;
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.topbar .x{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.navtoggle{
display:none;margin-left:auto;width:44px;height:44px;flex:none;
align-items:center;justify-content:center;
background:var(--panel);border:1px solid var(--line-strong);border-radius:9px;
color:var(--ink);cursor:pointer;padding:0;
}
.navtoggle:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}
.navtoggle .bars{display:block;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor;position:relative}
.navtoggle .bars::before,.navtoggle .bars::after{
content:"";position:absolute;left:0;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor}
.navtoggle .bars::before{top:-6px}
.navtoggle .bars::after{top:6px}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars{background:transparent}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::before{top:0;transform:rotate(45deg)}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::after{top:0;transform:rotate(-45deg)}
/* ---------- Footer (shared) ---------- */
footer{border-top:1px solid var(--line);margin-top:56px;padding:34px 0 40px;
color:var(--muted);font-size:14px;background:var(--panel)}
footer .sig{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);font-size:16px}
footer .links{display:flex;gap:16px;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:14px 0}
footer .built{font-size:13px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:8px}
@media (max-width:900px){
.navtoggle{display:inline-flex}
.topbar nav{
position:absolute;top:100%;left:0;right:0;
margin-left:0;display:none;flex-direction:column;gap:2px;flex-wrap:nowrap;
background:var(--panel);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
box-shadow:var(--shadow-lg);padding:10px 20px 16px;
}
.topbar nav.open{display:flex}
.topbar nav a{font-size:15.5px;padding:0 12px;min-height:44px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border-radius:8px}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){*{transition:none!important;scroll-behavior:auto!important}}
:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--accent);outline-offset:2px}
/*
Without JavaScript the panel cannot be toggled, so the links are shown
inline. On narrow screens they wrap under the logo and the bar is allowed
to grow, instead of being clipped by the fixed 60px height.
*/
.nojs .navtoggle{display:none}
.nojs .topbar nav{position:static;display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;
box-shadow:none;border-bottom:0;padding:0;margin-left:auto;background:transparent}
@media (max-width:900px){
.nojs .topbar .wrap{height:auto;min-height:56px;flex-wrap:wrap;padding-bottom:8px;gap:10px}
.nojs .topbar nav{margin-left:0;width:100%;gap:4px 6px}
.nojs .topbar nav a{font-size:14.5px;min-height:40px;padding:0 10px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:8px}
}
.post-head{padding:44px 0 30px;border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
background:radial-gradient(820px 280px at 50% -40%,var(--accent-soft),transparent 70%)}
.post-head .wrap{max-width:760px}
.post-head .eyebrow{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:12px;letter-spacing:.14em;
text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--accent);display:block;margin-bottom:14px}
.post-head h1{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:40px;
letter-spacing:-.02em;line-height:1.12;margin:0 0 14px}
.post-meta{display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:center;flex-wrap:wrap;
font-size:13px;color:var(--muted)}
.post-meta .dot{width:4px;height:4px;border-radius:50%;background:var(--line-strong)}
.article{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:34px 20px 8px}
.article p{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin:0 0 20px}
.article p strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article h2{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:25px;
letter-spacing:-.01em;margin:38px 0 14px;padding-bottom:10px;
border-bottom:1px solid var(--line-strong)}
.article ol{padding-left:22px;margin:0 0 20px}
.article li{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin-bottom:14px}
.article li strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article figure{margin:30px 0}
.article figure img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:var(--radius);
border:1px solid var(--line);box-shadow:var(--shadow)}
.article hr{border:0;border-top:1px solid var(--line-strong);margin:34px 0 22px}
.article .disclaimer{font-size:14px;color:var(--muted);font-style:italic;line-height:1.7}
.back{max-width:760px;margin:26px auto 0;padding:0 20px 8px}
.back a{font-size:14px;font-weight:600}
@media (max-width:700px){
.post-head{padding:30px 0 24px}
.post-head h1{font-size:29px}
.article{padding:28px 18px 8px}
.article h2{font-size:22px;margin-top:32px}
.article figure{margin:24px -18px}
.article figure img{border-radius:0;border-left:0;border-right:0}
}
@media (max-width:400px){
.post-head h1{font-size:25px}
.wrap{padding:0 15px}
.article{padding:24px 16px 8px}
.article figure{margin:22px -16px}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="topbar">
<div class="wrap">
<a class="logo" href="../index.html"><img src="../pitura/logo/Logo_nero.svg" alt="Bitcoin After Life logo"><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span></a>
<button class="navtoggle" id="navToggle" type="button"
aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="mainNav" aria-label="Open menu">
<span class="bars"></span>
</button>
<nav id="mainNav">
<a href="../index.html#features">Features</a>
<a href="../index.html#how">How it works</a>
<a href="../index.html#plugin">Plugin</a>
<a href="../index.html#faq">FAQ</a>
<a class="active" href="../blog.html">Blog</a>
<a href="../manifesto.html">Manifesto</a>
<a class="x" href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif" title="@BitcoinAfterLif on X">@X</a>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<main>
<header class="post-head">
<div class="wrap">
<span class="eyebrow">Blog</span>
<h1>What Happens to Your Bitcoin When You're Gone?</h1>
<div class="post-meta">
<time datetime="2026-08-15">15 August 2026</time>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span>5 min read</span>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<article class="article">
<figure>
<img src="img/what-happens-to-your-bitcoin-cover.webp" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="The Eternal Ledger — five steps from the inheritance gap to a time-locked handoff that keeps self-custody intact">
</figure>
<p>Self-custody is the whole point of Bitcoin. It is also, quietly, the reason a great deal of it will never move again.</p>
<p>You hold your own keys. Nobody can freeze your coins, seize them, or spend them without your permission. But that same guarantee cuts both ways: if you disappear tomorrow — an accident, an illness, or simply a hard drive that dies at the wrong moment — nobody can help your family either. Not a bank. Not a court. Not the developers of your wallet. Bitcoin does exactly what it promised: it obeys the keys, and only the keys.</p>
<p>Most people who hold Bitcoin know this in the abstract. Very few have done anything about it.</p>
<h2>The scale of the problem</h2>
<p>Nobody can count lost coins precisely — the blockchain does not flag them — but analysts converge on a striking range. Estimates from Chainalysis and others put the number of permanently inaccessible bitcoin somewhere between 2.3 and 4 million BTC, roughly 11 to 18 percent of the 21 million cap.<sup>1</sup> Some of that is early mining rewards nobody ever claimed. Some is a discarded laptop, a forgotten password, a paper wallet that went through the wash.</p>
<p>And a meaningful share is a simpler story: someone died, and no one else knew where the keys were, or how to use them.</p>
<p>Every one of those coins is still visible on-chain. You can look them up. They will sit there forever, doing nothing, because a private key that nobody holds is indistinguishable from a private key that never existed.</p>
<h2>Why "just leave instructions" doesn't work</h2>
<p>The natural response is: <em>I'll write it down.</em> Put the seed phrase in an envelope, tell your partner where it is, add a line to your will. Problem solved.</p>
<p>It isn't, and it helps to be honest about why. The usual approaches to Bitcoin inheritance all quietly break the thing they are trying to protect:</p>
<ul style="padding-left:22px">
<li><strong>Give your seed phrase to a family member.</strong> Now two people can move your coins — <em>today</em>, not after you're gone. You have not created a backup; you have created a co-owner, and one who may not understand what they are holding.</li>
<li><strong>Hand the coins to a custodian.</strong> A trusted third party will hold them and release them to your heirs. That is a perfectly valid choice — but it is no longer self-custody. You are back to trusting an institution to still exist, still be solvent, and still be willing when the time comes.</li>
<li><strong>Write it into a legal will.</strong> Executors and lawyers are excellent at transferring houses and bank accounts. Most of them have never restored a wallet from a seed phrase, and a will is a public document that will eventually name exactly where the funds are.</li>
<li><strong>Do nothing and hope.</strong> Statistically the most common option — and the one those 2.3 to 4 million coins came from.</li>
</ul>
<p>Each of these trades one risk for another. None of them lets you keep full control today while guaranteeing your heirs receive the coins tomorrow.</p>
<h2>What Bitcoin itself allows</h2>
<p>Here is the part that is easy to miss: the Bitcoin protocol already contains the tool for this. It is called a <strong>time-locked transaction</strong>.</p>
<p>You can sign a transaction <em>now</em> that Bitcoin will refuse to accept until a date you choose. Until that date, the network's own consensus rules reject it — no one can broadcast it early, not even you. After that date, anyone holding the signed transaction can send it to the network, and it will confirm.</p>
<p>That single primitive changes the shape of the problem. You no longer need to give anyone your keys. You need to give someone a <em>pre-signed transaction</em> that only becomes valid in the future — and make sure at least one of them is still around to broadcast it when the time comes.</p>
<p>Which raises the obvious question: <em>who?</em></p>
<h2>Where Bitcoin After Life comes in</h2>
<p><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> (BAL) is an open-source plugin for Electrum that turns that primitive into something a normal person can actually use. You choose your heirs and a delivery date. The plugin builds the time-locked transaction, Electrum signs it locally — your keys never leave your device — and the signed transaction is handed to a network of independent <strong>Will-Executor</strong> servers whose only job is to broadcast it on the date you set.</p>
<p>They cannot spend it. They cannot alter it. They cannot broadcast it early, because Bitcoin won't let them. And because the same transaction is held by several of them, no single server needs to survive for your plan to work — only one has to.</p>
<p>If you are still here when the date approaches, you simply renew. If you are not, your coins go where you said they should — with no notary, no custodian, and no one ever holding your keys but you.</p>
<p>Self-custody was never meant to end with you. Bitcoin already has the tools to make sure it doesn't. Read how the protocol works — and what a Will-Executor can and cannot see — in the manual: <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bitcoin-after.life/docs</a></p>
<hr>
<p class="disclaimer"><sup>1</sup> Ranges vary by methodology and year; the 2.34 million BTC figure reflects estimates cited by Chainalysis, Ledger, and River Financial. The exact number is unknowable, and that uncertainty is part of the point.</p>
</article>
<div class="back">
<a href="../blog.html">← Back to the blog</a>
</div>
</main>
<footer>
<div class="wrap">
<div class="sig">Svātantrya</div>
<div>Signed — <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> Protocol</div>
<div class="links">
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life">bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="mailto:info@bitcoin-after.life">info@bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif">@BitcoinAfterLif</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/pgp">PGP Key</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife">Source Code</a>
</div>
<div class="built">Built with ₿itcoin. No FIAT was used in the making of this protocol.</div>
</div>
</footer>
<script>
/* Mobile menu toggle -- identical behaviour across all pages. */
(function () {
const toggle = document.getElementById('navToggle');
const nav = document.getElementById('mainNav');
if (!toggle || !nav) return;
function setOpen(open) {
nav.classList.toggle('open', open);
toggle.setAttribute('aria-expanded', open ? 'true' : 'false');
toggle.setAttribute('aria-label', open ? 'Close menu' : 'Open menu');
}
toggle.addEventListener('click', function () {
setOpen(!nav.classList.contains('open'));
});
nav.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
if (e.target.tagName === 'A') setOpen(false);
});
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
if (e.key === 'Escape') setOpen(false);
});
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,318 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" class="nojs">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Why We Built BAL as an Electrum Plugin — and Why Timelocks Remove the Need for Trust — Bitcoin After Life</title>
<meta name="description" content="Signing is the most security-critical operation in Bitcoin, so BAL never signs. How building on Electrum and on nLocktime replaces trust with consensus rules and on-chain incentives.">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:title" content="Why We Built BAL as an Electrum Plugin — and Why Timelocks Remove the Need for Trust — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta property="og:description" content="Signing is the most security-critical operation in Bitcoin, so BAL never signs. How building on Electrum and on nLocktime replaces trust with consensus rules and on-chain incentives.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/why-electrum-and-timelocks.html">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@BitcoinAfterLif">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Why We Built BAL as an Electrum Plugin — and Why Timelocks Remove the Need for Trust — Bitcoin After Life">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Signing is the most security-critical operation in Bitcoin, so BAL never signs. How building on Electrum and on nLocktime replaces trust with consensus rules and on-chain incentives.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://bitcoin-after.life/pitura/og-default.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#2d6cdf">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/why-electrum-and-timelocks.html">
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/pitura/ico/Logo_nero.ico">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/pitura/ico/favicon-16.png">
<script>
/* Runs before first paint: removes the `nojs` class set on <html>, so the
mobile menu button is only shown when it can actually work. */
document.documentElement.classList.remove('nojs');
</script>
<style>
:root{
--maxw:1120px;
--radius:10px;
--bg:#eef1f4;
--panel:#ffffff;
--ink:#1a2027;
--muted:#5b6672;
--line:#dfe4ea;
--line-strong:#cbd2da;
--accent:#2d6cdf;
--accent-soft:#e6eefc;
--display:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--body:"Inter","Segoe UI",system-ui,-apple-system,sans-serif;
--mono:ui-monospace,"SF Mono",Menlo,Consolas,monospace;
--shadow:0 1px 2px rgba(20,30,50,.05);
--shadow-lg:0 6px 20px rgba(20,30,50,.08);
}
*{box-sizing:border-box}
html{scroll-behavior:smooth}
html,body{margin:0}
body{background:var(--bg);color:var(--ink);font-family:var(--body);
line-height:1.55;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased}
.wrap{max-width:var(--maxw);margin:0 auto;padding:0 20px}
a{color:var(--accent);text-decoration:none}
a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
/* ---------- Top bar (shared with home and manifesto) ---------- */
.topbar{position:sticky;top:0;z-index:30;background:rgba(255,255,255,.86);
backdrop-filter:saturate(150%) blur(8px);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line)}
.topbar .wrap{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:18px;height:60px}
.topbar .logo{display:flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;font-family:var(--display);
font-weight:600;color:var(--ink)}
.topbar .logo img{width:30px;height:30px;display:block}
.topbar .logo span{font-size:15px;letter-spacing:-.01em}
.topbar nav{margin-left:auto;display:flex;gap:4px;flex-wrap:wrap}
.topbar nav a{color:var(--muted);font-size:13px;padding:7px 11px;border-radius:7px}
.topbar nav a:hover{color:var(--ink);background:var(--accent-soft);text-decoration:none}
.topbar nav a.active{color:var(--accent);font-weight:600;border:1px solid #cfe0fb;
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.topbar .x{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.navtoggle{
display:none;margin-left:auto;width:44px;height:44px;flex:none;
align-items:center;justify-content:center;
background:var(--panel);border:1px solid var(--line-strong);border-radius:9px;
color:var(--ink);cursor:pointer;padding:0;
}
.navtoggle:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}
.navtoggle .bars{display:block;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor;position:relative}
.navtoggle .bars::before,.navtoggle .bars::after{
content:"";position:absolute;left:0;width:18px;height:2px;background:currentColor}
.navtoggle .bars::before{top:-6px}
.navtoggle .bars::after{top:6px}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars{background:transparent}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::before{top:0;transform:rotate(45deg)}
.navtoggle[aria-expanded="true"] .bars::after{top:0;transform:rotate(-45deg)}
/* ---------- Footer (shared) ---------- */
footer{border-top:1px solid var(--line);margin-top:56px;padding:34px 0 40px;
color:var(--muted);font-size:14px;background:var(--panel)}
footer .sig{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);font-size:16px}
footer .links{display:flex;gap:16px;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:14px 0}
footer .built{font-size:13px;color:var(--muted);margin-top:8px}
@media (max-width:900px){
.navtoggle{display:inline-flex}
.topbar nav{
position:absolute;top:100%;left:0;right:0;
margin-left:0;display:none;flex-direction:column;gap:2px;flex-wrap:nowrap;
background:var(--panel);border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
box-shadow:var(--shadow-lg);padding:10px 20px 16px;
}
.topbar nav.open{display:flex}
.topbar nav a{font-size:15.5px;padding:0 12px;min-height:44px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border-radius:8px}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){*{transition:none!important;scroll-behavior:auto!important}}
:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--accent);outline-offset:2px}
/*
Without JavaScript the panel cannot be toggled, so the links are shown
inline. On narrow screens they wrap under the logo and the bar is allowed
to grow, instead of being clipped by the fixed 60px height.
*/
.nojs .navtoggle{display:none}
.nojs .topbar nav{position:static;display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;
box-shadow:none;border-bottom:0;padding:0;margin-left:auto;background:transparent}
@media (max-width:900px){
.nojs .topbar .wrap{height:auto;min-height:56px;flex-wrap:wrap;padding-bottom:8px;gap:10px}
.nojs .topbar nav{margin-left:0;width:100%;gap:4px 6px}
.nojs .topbar nav a{font-size:14.5px;min-height:40px;padding:0 10px;
display:flex;align-items:center;border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:8px}
}
.post-head{padding:44px 0 30px;border-bottom:1px solid var(--line);
background:radial-gradient(820px 280px at 50% -40%,var(--accent-soft),transparent 70%)}
.post-head .wrap{max-width:760px}
.post-head .eyebrow{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:12px;letter-spacing:.14em;
text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--accent);display:block;margin-bottom:14px}
.post-head h1{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:40px;
letter-spacing:-.02em;line-height:1.12;margin:0 0 14px}
.post-meta{display:flex;gap:14px;align-items:center;flex-wrap:wrap;
font-size:13px;color:var(--muted)}
.post-meta .dot{width:4px;height:4px;border-radius:50%;background:var(--line-strong)}
.article{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:34px 20px 8px}
.article p{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin:0 0 20px}
.article p strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article h2{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;font-size:25px;
letter-spacing:-.01em;margin:38px 0 14px;padding-bottom:10px;
border-bottom:1px solid var(--line-strong)}
.article ol{padding-left:22px;margin:0 0 20px}
.article li{font-size:17px;line-height:1.8;color:#36404b;margin-bottom:14px}
.article li strong{color:var(--ink);font-weight:600}
.article figure{margin:30px 0}
.article figure img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:var(--radius);
border:1px solid var(--line);box-shadow:var(--shadow)}
.article hr{border:0;border-top:1px solid var(--line-strong);margin:34px 0 22px}
.article .disclaimer{font-size:14px;color:var(--muted);font-style:italic;line-height:1.7}
/*
Inline code and the comparison table: this post is the first to need them.
Both reuse the existing palette tokens so nothing new is introduced visually.
*/
.article code{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:.9em;background:var(--accent-soft);
color:var(--ink);padding:2px 6px;border-radius:5px}
/* The wrapper scrolls on narrow screens so the page body never scrolls sideways. */
.article .tablewrap{overflow-x:auto;margin:0 0 22px;-webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch}
.article table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15.5px;min-width:480px}
.article th,.article td{text-align:left;padding:11px 14px;border:1px solid var(--line);
line-height:1.6;color:#36404b;vertical-align:top}
.article th{font-family:var(--display);font-weight:600;color:var(--ink);
background:var(--accent-soft)}
.back{max-width:760px;margin:26px auto 0;padding:0 20px 8px}
.back a{font-size:14px;font-weight:600}
@media (max-width:700px){
.post-head{padding:30px 0 24px}
.post-head h1{font-size:29px}
.article{padding:28px 18px 8px}
.article h2{font-size:22px;margin-top:32px}
.article figure{margin:24px -18px}
.article figure img{border-radius:0;border-left:0;border-right:0}
}
@media (max-width:400px){
.post-head h1{font-size:25px}
.wrap{padding:0 15px}
.article{padding:24px 16px 8px}
.article figure{margin:22px -16px}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="topbar">
<div class="wrap">
<a class="logo" href="../index.html"><img src="../pitura/logo/Logo_nero.svg" alt="Bitcoin After Life logo"><span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span></a>
<button class="navtoggle" id="navToggle" type="button"
aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="mainNav" aria-label="Open menu">
<span class="bars"></span>
</button>
<nav id="mainNav">
<a href="../index.html#features">Features</a>
<a href="../index.html#how">How it works</a>
<a href="../index.html#plugin">Plugin</a>
<a href="../index.html#faq">FAQ</a>
<a class="active" href="../blog.html">Blog</a>
<a href="../manifesto.html">Manifesto</a>
<a class="x" href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif" title="@BitcoinAfterLif on X">@X</a>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<main>
<header class="post-head">
<div class="wrap">
<span class="eyebrow">Blog</span>
<h1>Why We Built BAL as an Electrum Plugin — and Why Timelocks Remove the Need for Trust</h1>
<div class="post-meta">
<time datetime="2026-08-23">23 August 2026</time>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>
<span class="dot"></span>
<span>4 min read</span>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<article class="article">
<figure>
<img src="img/why-electrum-and-timelocks.webp" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Temporal Seal — a padlock shaped like a clock holding a signed Bitcoin document">
</figure>
<p>When people first hear about <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span>, two questions arrive almost immediately. The first: <em>"Why a plugin for Electrum instead of your own wallet?"</em> The second: <em>"And why should I trust these Will-Executor servers with my inheritance?"</em></p>
<p>Both questions have the same answer, and it is the design philosophy at the core of the whole protocol: <strong>don't ask people to trust you — build a system where trust is not required.</strong></p>
<h2>Why Electrum: signing is sacred</h2>
<p>The single most security-critical operation in Bitcoin is signing a transaction. Everything else — addresses, balances, broadcasting — is public and verifiable. Signing is where your private keys touch the world, and it is where wallets live or die.</p>
<p>Electrum has been signing Bitcoin transactions since 2011. It is one of the oldest, most audited, most battle-tested pieces of software in the entire ecosystem. It supports hardware wallets, it works offline for air-gapped signing, and millions of users have stress-tested it against every edge case imaginable for over a decade.</p>
<p>Building a new wallet from scratch would have meant asking users to trust <em>our</em> signing code with <em>their</em> life savings. We refused. The BAL plugin never signs anything. It builds the transaction, shows it to you, and then asks Electrum — your Electrum, with your keys, your password, your hardware wallet — to sign it. The plugin asks; you decide. Your keys never leave your device, and the signing process is entirely independent of BAL.</p>
<p>This choice also shrinks the attack surface dramatically: BAL's code handles no secrets, so there is nothing in it worth stealing.</p>
<h2>Why timelocks: consensus, not promises</h2>
<p>The second pillar is <code>nLocktime</code>, a feature built into the Bitcoin protocol itself since the very beginning.</p>
<p>A time-locked transaction is a normal, fully signed Bitcoin transaction with one special property: it carries a timestamp, and <strong>Bitcoin nodes will reject it until that moment arrives</strong>. Not "should reject" — <em>will</em> reject. It is not a policy of any company or server. It is a consensus rule, enforced by the same mathematics that prevents double-spending.</p>
<p>This changes the entire trust equation of inheritance:</p>
<ul style="padding-left:22px">
<li><strong>No one can execute your will early.</strong> Not an impatient heir, not a compromised server, not a bug. Before the delivery date, the transaction simply does not exist as far as the network is concerned.</li>
<li><strong>No one can alter it.</strong> The transaction is already fully signed by your key. Changing a single satoshi would invalidate the signature.</li>
<li><strong>No one can steal with it.</strong> The outputs are fixed at signing time: your heirs' addresses and the executor's fee. A Will-Executor holding the transaction holds something that can only ever pay <em>your</em> chosen destinations.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What Will-Executors actually are (and are not)</h2>
<p>With timelocks in place, the role of the Will-Executor becomes almost boring — and that is precisely the point. A Will-Executor server does exactly two things:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Store</strong> your signed, time-locked transaction.</li>
<li><strong>Broadcast</strong> it to the Bitcoin network when the delivery date arrives.</li>
</ol>
<p>It cannot peek at the future, cannot modify the transaction, cannot redirect the funds. It is closer to an automated mailbox than to a bank. And its incentive to behave is not reputational or legal — it is <strong>on-chain</strong>: each inheritance transaction includes a fee for the executor, which is only paid when the transaction confirms. The server earns nothing unless the inheritance executes exactly as you designed it.</p>
<p>Redundancy completes the picture. The plugin creates one transaction per selected Will-Executor, drawn from the public WeList directory. Only one of them needs to still be operating on the delivery date for your will to execute. The first to broadcast wins the fee — a built-in race that keeps every executor honest and punctual.</p>
<h2>Trust, deleted</h2>
<p>The history of crypto is littered with "trust us" — trusted exchanges, trusted custodians, trusted recovery services — and with the wreckage left when that trust broke. BAL's architecture is an attempt to delete the word entirely:</p>
<div class="tablewrap">
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Concern</th><th>Traditional answer</th><th>BAL's answer</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Who holds my keys?</td><td>A custodian</td><td>Only you, in Electrum</td></tr>
<tr><td>Who controls the timing?</td><td>A court</td><td>Bitcoin consensus (<code>nLocktime</code>)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Who executes the will?</td><td>A lawyer</td><td>A redundant network of incentivized servers</td></tr>
<tr><td>What stops abuse?</td><td>Legal liability</td><td>Mathematics and game theory</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>If you are the kind of person who verifies instead of trusting — and if you hold your own keys, you probably are — both the plugin and the server are open source, MIT-licensed, and waiting for your review on our <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gitea</a>. The full protocol walkthrough is in the <a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/protocol/how-it-works.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manual</a>, and we recommend everyone starts on testnet.</p>
<p>Don't trust. Verify. Then, and only then, plan.</p>
</article>
<div class="back">
<a href="../blog.html">← Back to the blog</a>
</div>
</main>
<footer>
<div class="wrap">
<div class="sig">Svātantrya</div>
<div>Signed — <span translate="no">Bitcoin After Life</span> Protocol</div>
<div class="links">
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life">bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="mailto:info@bitcoin-after.life">info@bitcoin-after.life</a>
<a href="https://x.com/BitcoinAfterLif">@BitcoinAfterLif</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/pgp">PGP Key</a>
<a href="https://bitcoin-after.life/gitea/bitcoinafterlife">Source Code</a>
</div>
<div class="built">Built with ₿itcoin. No FIAT was used in the making of this protocol.</div>
</div>
</footer>
<script>
/* Mobile menu toggle -- identical behaviour across all pages. */
(function () {
const toggle = document.getElementById('navToggle');
const nav = document.getElementById('mainNav');
if (!toggle || !nav) return;
function setOpen(open) {
nav.classList.toggle('open', open);
toggle.setAttribute('aria-expanded', open ? 'true' : 'false');
toggle.setAttribute('aria-label', open ? 'Close menu' : 'Open menu');
}
toggle.addEventListener('click', function () {
setOpen(!nav.classList.contains('open'));
});
nav.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
if (e.target.tagName === 'A') setOpen(false);
});
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
if (e.key === 'Escape') setOpen(false);
});
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>

BIN
favicon.ico Normal file

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 28 KiB

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long

File diff suppressed because it is too large Load Diff

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long

78
mobile-check.html Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Mobile diagnostics</title>
<style>
body{font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;margin:0;padding:20px;background:#eef1f4;color:#1a2027}
h1{font-size:20px;margin:0 0 4px}
.hint{color:#5b6672;font-size:14px;margin:0 0 18px}
table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;background:#fff;border:1px solid #dfe4ea;border-radius:10px;overflow:hidden}
td{padding:11px 13px;border-bottom:1px solid #dfe4ea;font-size:15px;vertical-align:top}
tr:last-child td{border-bottom:0}
td.k{color:#5b6672;width:52%}
td.v{font-family:ui-monospace,Menlo,Consolas,monospace;font-weight:600}
.verdict{margin-top:18px;padding:16px;border-radius:10px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.55}
.ok{background:#e3f4ea;border:1px solid #b6e0c6}
.bad{background:#fbf0df;border:1px solid #eed8b4}
/* These probes report whether the mobile breakpoints are actually active. */
.probe900,.probe700,.probe560{display:none}
@media (max-width:900px){.probe900{display:inline}}
@media (max-width:700px){.probe700{display:inline}}
@media (max-width:560px){.probe560{display:inline}}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Mobile diagnostics</h1>
<p class="hint">Open this page on the phone and read out the values.</p>
<table>
<tr><td class="k">Layout viewport width (CSS px)</td><td class="v" id="vw"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">Screen width reported</td><td class="v" id="sw"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">Device pixel ratio</td><td class="v" id="dpr"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">Breakpoint &le;900px active</td><td class="v"><span class="probe900">YES</span><span id="n900">NO</span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">Breakpoint &le;700px active</td><td class="v"><span class="probe700">YES</span><span id="n700">NO</span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">Breakpoint &le;560px active</td><td class="v"><span class="probe560">YES</span><span id="n560">NO</span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">JavaScript enabled</td><td class="v" id="js">NO</td></tr>
<tr><td class="k">Browser identification</td><td class="v" id="ua" style="font-size:11px;word-break:break-all"></td></tr>
</table>
<div class="verdict" id="verdict">
If "JavaScript enabled" says NO, this box will not update — that alone is a useful result.
</div>
<script>
/* Hide the "NO" markers whose matching media query fired, so each row shows
a single unambiguous value. */
[[900, 'n900'], [700, 'n700'], [560, 'n560']].forEach(function (pair) {
if (window.matchMedia('(max-width:' + pair[0] + 'px)').matches) {
document.getElementById(pair[1]).style.display = 'none';
}
});
var vw = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
document.getElementById('vw').textContent = vw + ' px';
document.getElementById('sw').textContent = window.screen.width + ' px';
document.getElementById('dpr').textContent = window.devicePixelRatio;
document.getElementById('js').textContent = 'YES';
document.getElementById('ua').textContent = navigator.userAgent;
var v = document.getElementById('verdict');
if (vw > 900) {
v.className = 'verdict bad';
v.innerHTML = '<b>Found it.</b> The layout viewport is ' + vw + ' CSS pixels, ' +
'so the phone is rendering the page as a desktop window and none of the ' +
'mobile rules apply. This is a browser setting, not a problem in the page: ' +
'look for "Request desktop site" (or "Desktop site") in the browser menu ' +
'and turn it off for this site.';
} else {
v.className = 'verdict ok';
v.innerHTML = '<b>The viewport is correct</b> (' + vw + ' CSS pixels) and the ' +
'mobile rules are active. If the page still looks wrong, the cause is ' +
'elsewhere — most likely a cached copy of the old page. Reload with the ' +
'cache cleared.';
}
</script>
</body>
</html>

BIN
pitura/og-default.png Normal file

Binary file not shown.

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 43 KiB

5
robots.txt Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://bitcoin-after.life/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://bitcoin-after.life/docs/sitemap.xml

8
sitemap.xml Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url><loc>https://bitcoin-after.life/index.html</loc><lastmod>2026-08-14</lastmod><priority>1.0</priority></url>
<url><loc>https://bitcoin-after.life/manifesto.html</loc><lastmod>2026-08-14</lastmod><priority>0.8</priority></url>
<url><loc>https://bitcoin-after.life/blog.html</loc><lastmod>2026-08-14</lastmod><priority>0.6</priority></url>
<url><loc>https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/inheritance-when-trust-fails.html</loc><lastmod>2026-08-14</lastmod><priority>0.5</priority></url>
<url><loc>https://bitcoin-after.life/blog/it-all-starts-with-the-seed.html</loc><lastmod>2026-08-14</lastmod><priority>0.5</priority></url>
</urlset>