The Dinner That Exposed the Inheritance Illusion

Last weekend I had dinner with old friends in Paris. After a few drinks, the conversation turned to inheritance, trusts, funds, and education. One of my buddies started complaining about his new family trust. He had spent thousands of dollars and months working with lawyers to set up a system that would pay his kids a steady 20,000 a month after he’s gone. Instead of peace of mind, he got endless paperwork, sky-high fees, and a pile of rules and restrictions.

I looked around the table. The others were nodding along because they had lived through the same thing. And then it hit me: these are not all Bitcoiners. They think they are building a safety net for their children, but really they are turning them into serfs of the system. My friend isn’t leaving behind wealth. He’s leaving a leash—a shiny golden leash, yes, but the handle is in the hands of bankers, lawyers, and future regulators.

Why Fiat Inheritance Is a Leash, Not Freedom

I interrupted them: "Guys, I love my kids too, and I want the best for them. But I don’t want to just give them purchasing power in fiat money. I want them to be sovereign." Have you ever thought about it? If the world changes, or if your kids want to do something the trust’s trustees don’t like, that money can be cut off in an instant. If the rules change, they cannot access their money anymore. In that moment, your so-called rich kid becomes a beggar with a frozen account.

I don’t believe in a one-time inheritance. In my family, inheritance is a test of character. That’s why I’ve prepared three wallets for my two children, Lucy and Louis, each with a different role in a cypherpunk-style global asset management scheme.

Wallet One: The Tuition Wallet (5–10%)

The first wallet holds about 10% of the money, somewhere between 5 and 10 percent. I call it tuition. This is the wallet I will give them straight up, no conditions attached. It could be a hot wallet or an easy-to-use cold wallet loaded with a decent amount of crypto. They are free to lose it, to play with it, to enjoy it.

I want them to be scammed. I want them to lose their private keys, maybe even lose their cold wallet. I want them to get hacked. I want them to make a few dumb trades and blow this money. Why? Because losing 5 to 10 percent at 15 because of ignorance is far better than squandering the whole fortune at 40. That pain is their ticket to adulthood.

Wallet Two: The Family Reserve (60%)

The second wallet holds 60% of the money. This is the family reserve. For this part, we use multisignature—not just me, not just the kids. It’s a 3-of-5 multisig wallet. One key goes to a lawyer. One key sits in a safe, maybe in New Zealand, maybe in Singapore—I won’t tell you obviously. One key might go to their future spouse. And one key is free with each kid. The exact distribution can change, but the point is not the 3-of-5 structure itself.

The point is that we are replacing the traditional family leader—me—with a decentralized board, a DAO. No single point of failure, no single point of dictatorship. If you want to unblock the money, let’s vote. That’s how a family reserve should work: by consensus, not by command.

Wallet Three: The Gift of Time (CLTV)

The third wallet is my favourite because I need it myself and I use it myself. It’s the gift of time. Here, math replaces me as their father. In traditional finance, they use deferred payments, but those are run by people—and people can be bought, trust companies can go bankrupt. In the Bitcoin world, we don’t trust people. We trust code.

Bitcoin has a feature called CLTV—Check Lock Time Verify. You can etch dates onto the blockchain, like 2040 or 2030, with multiple transactions. Until the blockchain reaches that block height, that money mathematically does not exist. It is unspendable before the specified date. Do you know how important that is? Even if I become a billionaire in the future, even if my kids stand in front of me crying and begging to buy a Ferrari, a yacht, or a Hermès bag, even if I myself get soft-hearted—we are still powerless. The network simply rejects the transaction. Bitcoin says no. It doesn’t care who I am or how urgent it is.

Sometimes it can be frightening to lock money like this, but for me it’s really useful. It’s the ultimate protection against our own weaknesses.

A Declaration of Independence

Western elite education teaches us to build networks and rely on institutions. But Bitcoin teaches us: don’t trust, verify. One day in the future, when I hand my son this steel plate engraved with the private key and the time script, I’ll tell him: "My son, this isn’t just an asset worth millions now. This is a declaration of independence. This is a tool you can use to make your life better. You are not controlled by money. You do not depend on any bank or any government. You need no one’s permission."

But I’ll also remind him: before the clock strikes—let’s say 2040—you have to learn how to deserve this freedom.

What Will You Leave Behind?

Are you planning to leave your kids a pile of fiat money that’s melting like ice, or are you ready to lead them through the door of the future in a decentralized world? That’s the real question. My three wallets are not just a technical setup; they are a philosophy. The first wallet teaches through loss. The second wallet teaches through shared responsibility. The third wallet teaches through patience and code-enforced discipline.

I’m not leaving my children a leash. I’m leaving them the tools to be sovereign—and the time to become worthy of it.