Crypto on an exchange after the owner dies: what heirs do

Picture this. Piotr died suddenly in March. His widow goes through his email and finds messages from Kraken from two years ago. She doesn’t know the passwords, and his bank account shows transfers to an exchange worth tens of thousands of zloty. She asks: can I just reset the password and log in? She shouldn’t. Crypto on an exchange belongs to the estate, but it passes to the heirs in a different way from money in a bank account: through a report to the exchange and a full set of documents.

This guide describes what heirs do in that situation and sets out what the official help pages of five exchanges say. It isn’t legal advice. For the estate and the documents, ask a notary or a lawyer. If the crypto was in a self-custody wallet rather than on an exchange, see the guide I inherited crypto: what next. The whole subject is covered in the pillar crypto inheritance.

What happens to crypto on an exchange after the owner dies

An exchange works as a custodian: it holds the keys, and the owner has an account with a balance. After the owner’s death the balance becomes part of the estate, like money in a bank. But the exchange has no way of knowing about the death until someone tells it.

Two facts follow.

1. The funds don’t vanish on their own. The account stays, the balance stays. According to its help page, Coinbase freezes the account after it receives proof of death.
2. The heir doesn’t get access automatically. They have to contact the exchange with documents and go through its procedure.

Under Polish law, the right to inherit is confirmed by a notarial certificate of succession (akt poświadczenia dziedziczenia) from a notary, or by a court decision confirming the acquisition of the inheritance (postanowienie sądu o stwierdzeniu nabycia spadku). Other EU countries have their own equivalents, so check which document applies in your case. Each exchange decides for itself which documents it requires. That’s why below we quote exactly what each one has published.

Exchange by exchange: how to report and which documents

The data comes from the official help centres, checked on 19 October 2026. We don’t fill gaps with guesses: when a page doesn’t say something, we say so.

Exchange	How to report	Documents named by the exchange	Time	Source
Binance	“Inheritance Appeal”: Customer Support, Self Service, Legacy Inheritance. You must first open your own account, and in the form you give the deceased’s email, phone number or ID	“Legally valid inheritance documents” and “all relevant materials”; the page doesn’t list document types	Usually 1–2 months, longer in complex cases	Binance
Kraken	Online form for reports after a client’s death; the compliance team then supports you	Death certificate (colour scan; funeral home certificates aren’t accepted), a document proving the right to represent the estate (the page names, among others, the Polish notarial certificate of succession), ID of each representative, a signed letter; further documents possible	The page doesn’t say	Kraken
Coinbase	“Executor Services” form on the help page	Per the help page: death certificate, probate documents, ID of the person named in them and a letter of instruction; requirements are written from the point of view of US law	No information	Coinbase
Bybit	Procedure described as estate planning: a will naming an executor and their UID	A will with an executor, the executor’s KYC and Bybit account, a death certificate, “necessary court orders”; the executor must have access to the deceased’s email	No information	Bybit
Zonda	We found no published procedure for heirs	Not applicable	Not applicable	See below

Binance

Binance describes an “Inheritance Appeal” feature. The page says the process is subject to applicable law and the terms of use and requires “legally valid inheritance documents”, but it gives no list of document types. It’s the only one of the five exchanges that states a time: usually 1–2 months, longer in complex cases. After checking the report, according to the page, the assets go to the heir or a trustee.

Kraken

Kraken has the most specific list. The page even gives an example of a Polish document: the notarial certificate of succession as proof of the right to represent the estate. Kraken notes that it doesn’t currently offer naming a beneficiary on an account. The page gives neither a processing time nor any rules on translating documents, so ask about that in your report. The page was last updated on 17 March 2026.

Coinbase

For Coinbase we have only the help page “Claim a decedent’s Coinbase account”. According to it, you report through the “Executor Services” form, and the account is frozen after proof of death arrives. The description of documents is aimed at executors in the USA. We found nothing in it on how to treat a Polish notarial certificate of succession, so in that case ask support before you submit the full set of papers. Exchange procedures change, so before you report, open the current version of the page and compare it with the list above.

Bybit

Bybit describes the matter as estate planning. According to the article, a will should name an executor, their UID and a list of assets, the executor completes their own KYC and must have a Bybit account, because the assets will go there. The exchange states that it doesn’t take part in dividing the estate, so the will should give the executor the right to withdraw and to decide on the split. The article warns that a defective will can block the transfer. For heirs without a will, no path is described there. The article carries an update date of 15 November 2024.

Zonda

In Zondacrypto’s help centre we found no procedure for heirs of a deceased client. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one, only that it isn’t published where we looked. Ask the exchange’s support and attach the death certificate and a document proving the right to inherit.

With Zonda there’s extra context that changes the picture. The Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) partially suspended, on 18 May 2026, the licence of BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the company operating under the Zondacrypto brand: the company couldn’t accept new assets or clients, and withdrawals remained possible. If the deceased had funds on Zonda, check the company’s current status as soon as possible in Estonian official notices and with the exchange itself. If proceedings against the company are involved, the deadline for filing claims may be short, and watching it is a matter for a lawyer.

Documents: what to prepare

Whichever exchange it is, gather a basic set. Start with it before you write to support.

1. A copy of the death certificate. Kraken says plainly that a funeral home certificate isn’t enough. Get a copy from the civil registry office.
2. A document proving the right to inherit. Under Polish law, a notarial certificate of succession or a court decision confirming the acquisition of the inheritance. A notary will tell you which route fits your case.
3. ID of each heir or executor who approaches the exchange.
4. The deceased’s details: the account email, phone number and account ID, if you know them. For Binance, one of them is enough.
5. A signed cover letter. Kraken requires a signed and dated letter from the representative, confirming the death and their role.
6. Sworn translations, if the exchange asks for them. None of the pages we described states translation requirements outright, so ask in your report whether it accepts documents in Polish or another language.

Before you start the exchange formalities, establish the circle of heirs. When there are several, the exchange will usually want a document showing who is entitled to the funds and in what shares. We write about a will as a source document in the guide crypto in your will. We cover inheritance tax in the guide crypto inheritance tax in Poland: the SD-Z2 form.

How long it takes

Of the five exchanges we checked, only Binance gives a time: usually 1–2 months, longer in complex cases. The others don’t publish one, so we give no indicative timelines. On top of that comes the time to get your own documents. A notarial certificate of succession can take weeks, and a court decision is a longer procedure. Plan for months, not days, and don’t assume the funds will be available before the formalities finish.

One more thing: the value of crypto changes in the meantime. Heirs have no influence on the price while they wait. Whether to sell after taking over is a decision we don’t make for anyone and give no advice on.

What not to do

• Don’t log in to the deceased’s account and don’t reset their password. Exchange procedures assume a report with documents, and an unauthorised login can make that harder.
• Don’t give anyone passwords or 2FA codes, even when someone presents themselves as exchange support. Real support asks for documents through a form, not for passwords.
• Don’t send documents to an address from an email that reached you. Go to the exchange’s site yourself and use the form from its help centre.
• Don’t sell or move anything on your own before you’ve established the rights to the estate. Talk to a notary about dividing the estate and the effect on tax settlements.

Why leave your family a list of exchanges

Most of the trouble with crypto on an exchange comes from missing information, not from the procedure itself. Your family doesn’t know where to look, has no access to the mailbox and doesn’t know the account ID. A few lines in your instructions change that:

• the names of the exchanges where you hold accounts, and the email address the accounts were opened with;
• where the login details are kept (a password manager, a deposit), but not the passwords themselves in the instructions;
• who has access to your email and phone (2FA codes often arrive there or in a phone app);
• a link to this guide or to the exchanges’ help pages, so your family knows where to start.

Such a list costs an hour of work and saves your family weeks of searching. Bybit says this outright in its article: without planning, assets can become inaccessible. How to build the list, we explain in the guide access instructions for your family: what they contain. If you’re comparing an exchange with your own wallet, see the pillar exchange or self-custody and the glossary entry on self-custody.

We prepare such instructions for families: we describe where things are and whom to ask what, without looking at keys and without access to funds. You’ll find the offer on the page access instructions for your family. Estate matters and wills are handled by a notary or lawyer, not by us.

Disclaimer

This text is for information only. It isn’t legal or tax advice and doesn’t replace a conversation with a notary, a lawyer or a tax adviser. We describe exchange procedures according to their help pages on the day we checked. Exchanges change them without notice. For your own case, ask a notary about the inheritance documents and the exchange about its current requirements.

Accurate as of 19 October 2026.