The global cryptocurrency market cap at the time of writing sits north of $2 trillion. That’s a lot of wealth to gain, but also poses a risk of loss. While calculations vary and it’s difficult to know if a wallet is “lost” or dormant, some estimates state that more than 20% of the total bitcoin supply is lost. Depending on the day, that represents over $300 billion.
Kamil Mamin, founder of Tezoro, set out to solve this problem. “As far as I know, it's the number one fear of decentralization that no one in the world can give you access to your assets if you lose your mnemonic,” says Kamil.
Tezoro helps protect digital assets by creating a digital will. Coded into smart contracts that live on the blockchain, Tezoro is a non-custodial service that can recover your crypto if you lose access to your wallet or die.
Modern wills have been a common practice in estate planning for centuries, with early versions tracing back to Ancient Greece in 600 BCE. The logic is simple. Humans want to protect their assets and where they end up.
As crypto wealth grows – protecting the legacy of one’s assets seems like a natural evolution. But, as Mamin identified, the crypto world hadn’t quite brought onchain digital wills into existence. “My previous startup was in traditional finance inheritance and I was really surprised to discover that it is a completely blue ocean in the web3 space,” says Mamin.
According to Tezoro, 46% of American adults have a will while less than 1% of crypto holders have a digital will. Mamin’s background in financial inheritance uniquely positioned him to tackle this white space in web3. Tezoro presents a simple and secure solution and notably, the digital will you create will continue to exist, even if Tezoro doesn’t.
Tezoro works in three steps. “It's literally a couple of minutes to save your assets,” adds Kamil. Users specify the assets they want to bequeath, specify the beneficiaries that will receive the assets, and specify triggers that will execute the digital will. Triggers can include wallet inactivity, a specific date, or through an executor on Etherscan or the Tezoro dashboard.
“This is just the beginning. I see the future of Tezoro as a company that solves a real-world problem. I’ll feel honored and proud if I see how many assets people lose every day, reduces.” As the amount of crypto holders continues to grow, Kamil and Tezoro’s innovation has the potential to bring users peace of mind, transforming how we manage and transfer our digital assets.
Watch Tezoro’s builder story below and check out Web3forAll to learn more about how you can get involved in the movement to protect web3 from misguided regulation.