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We found no law written specifically for inherited cryptocurrency in Thailand. Estate property under the Civil and Commercial Code's general inheritance rules covers the deceased's property broadly, though how crypto itself is classified under Thai law has not been separately confirmed; either way, you can name it in a Thai will. In practice, access decides everything: for an exchange account, what a claimant needs to show - including whether a Thai court order naming an administrator is required - is set by the platform, and for a self-custody wallet, if every access and recovery method it offers is lost, the coins can become unreachable. That is why a will should describe the assets themselves, never the keys to them.
In short
- Crypto is handled under the general inheritance rules; a specific procedure for digital assets and official guidance on it have not been confirmed in the sources we checked.
- An exchange account's requirements are set by the platform and may include a Thai court order naming an administrator; a self-custody wallet needs the private key or seed phrase.
- A Thai will can name your exchanges, wallets and heirs, but it should never contain a password or seed phrase.
- Keep access instructions somewhere else, and tell your executor where to find them.
- Inheritance tax applies only above THB 100 million received from one deceased person.
Crypto as inheritable property under Thai law
On death, a person's estate - the deceased's property together with the rights, duties and liabilities attached to it, apart from those that are strictly personal by law or by nature - passes to the heirs under the Civil and Commercial Code (sections 1599-1600). Cryptocurrency held by the deceased, whether on an exchange or in a personal wallet, falls within that general estate. We found no provision that singles digital assets out, and no official guidance on the point specifically. Thai law also has no forced heirship: a will may leave a statutory heir nothing at all (section 1646), so you are free to decide exactly who gets your crypto and in what share.
A grant of probate or letters of administration issued abroad has no direct effect in Thailand. Whoever a will names as administrator - or whoever applies without a will - needs an order from a Thai court before a bank or the Land Office will act (section 1713). A crypto exchange is a separate matter: its own process and document requirements should be confirmed with that platform, which we look at below. Our lawyers can help you choose who to name as administrator and prepare the will accordingly, so your heirs know from the start who will apply to the court - though the court petition itself still has to be filed after your death.
One point stays open. Which country's law applies to a wallet or an exchange account when the estate has ties to more than one country has not been settled for cryptocurrency specifically, and if you also hold a will or inheritance rights abroad, we suggest asking a lawyer in both countries before relying on either one for the Thai probate process.
Exchange account or self-custody wallet
The two situations work very differently, and the difference matters most once you are gone.
| Exchange account | Self-custody wallet | |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds access | The exchange, for a custodial account, under its own account-access rules | Whoever holds the private key or seed phrase |
| What an heir needs | A death certificate and proof of authority to claim the account - a Thai court order naming an administrator may be part of that; check with the exchange | The private key or seed phrase |
| Without a will or keys | The requirements that specific exchange asks for still have to be met, whatever they turn out to be | If every access and recovery method the wallet offers is lost, the coins can become unreachable |
Exchange practice is something we cannot promise on your behalf: platforms are licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but we have not found a published, common standard for how a licensed exchange handles a deceased customer's account. We suggest asking your exchange now, in writing, what it will need from an administrator, rather than leaving your heirs to find that out after your death.
Covering digital assets in a will
An ordinary Thai will must be in writing, dated, and signed by the testator before at least two witnesses who are present together and sign it at that same time to attest the testator's signature (section 1656). A witness, the person who wrote the will, and their spouses cannot take anything under it (section 1653). No notary and no registration are required. A Thai will for assets in Thailand alongside a separate will for assets abroad is the usual structure, and the typical situation two wills without conflict shows how that can work in practice.
What to put in the will: the names of the exchanges and wallets you hold, who gets what share, who acts as administrator (section 1713), and where your access instructions are kept - not what those instructions say. If you already have a will covering assets outside Thailand, read a Thai will alongside your home will on how the two are usually kept apart. Our lawyers check that the form is correct and that an administrator is clearly named before we file anything.
Keys and passwords: passing them on safely
This is where most guides stop too soon, and it is the part we think matters most. A will can be read out and examined as part of a Thai probate hearing, so you should not count on its contents staying private. Writing a seed phrase or a password into that document risks putting it in front of more people than you ever intended, long before anyone should actually have it.
Keep keys and passwords somewhere separate, and tell only your executor - or write in the will where a trusted set of instructions is kept, without copying what it says. We have not found a Thai rule on any specific custody tool or multi-signature setup, so we do not recommend one method over another; what we do is check that the arrangement you choose fits with the will rather than contradicting it.
Tax on inherited crypto
Inheritance tax applies only above THB 100 million received from one deceased person: 5% for ascendants and descendants, 10% for other taxable recipients, and a surviving spouse pays nothing; the return and payment are due within 150 days of receiving the inheritance that creates the liability (Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558). Separately, profit from selling crypto through an SEC-licensed Thai exchange, broker or dealer is exempt from personal income tax from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029 (Ministerial Regulation No. 399, B.E. 2568). That exemption covers gains on a sale, not inheritance itself, and what it means once an heir sells coins they inherited is a question of its own, which we look at on our tax pages.
What to do next
If you hold cryptocurrency and have not yet made a Thai will, that is the place to start. Our team can draft or update a will that names your exchanges and wallets, appoints an administrator, and records where your access instructions live - stored separately, the way we recommend above. Making a will in Thailand covers the forms, the timing and what we need from you to begin, and our lawyers are licensed by the Lawyers Council of Thailand and work in English, Thai and Russian.
If you are already dealing with an estate rather than planning one, inheritance in Thailand explains how the court process around an administrator works more broadly, crypto included.
