Who Inherits Your Digital Life?

Dear Reader,

Unlike my friends, I didn't have a prestigious job lined up when I graduated college. I was confused too, and wanted some time to think. I knew watching their lives would make me feel envious, so I decided to take a break from social media. I deleted my personal Instagram account.

I felt relieved at first. But the feeling dissipated after a few weeks.

Soon, I began wondering what people were up to. Yes, I could always call or text, but social media was a simpler, more convenient tool. As well, I felt grief and a sense of loss for the pictures and videos I couldn't access anymore. I even tried making another account with the same username, only to find that a man from Mongolia had already claimed it.

I eventually made a new account with a different username. But that experience taught me that despite all the downsides of social media, it also serves as a repository of our memories and relationships. Turns out that our digital lives aren't as disposable as we may think.

Today, almost all of us have some form of a digital presence. It could be photos stored in the cloud, years of WhatsApp chats, an Instagram account, a YouTube channel or even crypto assets worth real money.

So, what happens to all of that when we're no more?

"Younger people are sometimes concerned about their Gmail or Facebook. But on the whole, most people aren't thinking about this," Nikhil Varghese, co-founder of will-making platform Yellow, told me.

In fact, less than 10% of Indians even make a regular will, let alone think about what happens to their digital life.

Digital assets like cryptocurrency are no different. Prateek Gupta, founder of crypto exchange Mudrex, told me that they haven't received a single query about crypto inheritance. And while a centralised exchange like Mudrex can help successors recover assets, the same isn't necessarily true if the crypto is stored in a self-custodied or decentralised wallet. Lose the private keys, and those assets may be gone forever.

The broader problem is this: we've spent centuries ironing out how to pass on physical assets like land, jewellery and bank accounts. But when it comes to our digital lives, we’re far from ready.

So, how should we think about digital succession? And what practical steps can you take today?

Tune in to the latest episode of The Signal Brief to learn more. 

You can find The Signal Brief on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Thank you once again for listening and supporting us. We’d love to hear from you; write to us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or X at @thesignaldotco.

Best,
Kudrat
on behalf of The Core

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