What to do when an Anchorage Digital account holder dies
Report the death to Anchorage Digital Client Services at 1-415-941-6300
When an account holder at Anchorage Digital passes away, the next step depends on how the accounts were set up. Accounts with beneficiary designations or trust ownership transfer outside of probate. Accounts titled solely in the deceased's name require the estate's legal representative to work with Anchorage Digital Client Services (1-415-941-6300) to access and distribute the funds.
To start a claim, contact Anchorage Digital by phone at 1-415-941-6300 or email documentation to contact@anchorage.com. You will need the account holder's full name, account numbers, and the death certificate.
Death claim process
Here is the step-by-step death claim process at Anchorage Digital:
Filing a claim
- Anchorage has no claims phone tree or estate portal
- Custody, settlement, staking and governance are with Anchorage Digital Bank National Association
- Trading, lending, commodities brokerage, New York clients and non-US clients are with separate Anchorage companies
Required Documents
- Death certificateA certified copy.
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, for an individual accountFrom the probate court.
- Government-issued photo ID, for the executor or personal representative
- Trust agreement or certification, and successor-trustee authorization, for an account held in trust
- Court order authorizing the transfer of digital assets, if Anchorage compliance or the governing jurisdiction requires it
- Any other documents Anchorage compliance requires
What happens to each kind of account6
- Account in one name
For an individual account held directly, the estate's personal representative must establish authority through probate.1
- Trust account
On an account held by a trust, the successor trustee named in the governing documents continues to act. The authorized-person roster is updated rather than the account itself transferred.1
- Business account
On an account held by a fund or corporation, the surviving authorized signers named in the entity's governing documents continue to act. The authorized-person roster is updated rather than the account itself transferred.1
- Investment account
A joint, taxable or IRA account opened through an RIA, family office or bank under Anchorage's wealth management solution starts with that advisor, who holds the account paperwork and any survivorship or beneficiary designation.1
- Crypto account
There is no seed phrase or hardware wallet for an executor to find. Anchorage custody is built to avoid key-person risk, so assets are released to an estate by re-credentialing authorized users under the custody agreement, not by recovering a private key.1
A Porto wallet is self-custody, so none of the custody process applies to it: recovering it depends on the deceased person's own key material, not on Anchorage.1
- Loan
An outstanding loan from Anchorage Lending CA, LLC, including a crypto-collateralized loan, is a debt of the estate, and the collateral stays pledged.2
State requirements Anchorage Digital statesNew York
- New York
For New York clients, Anchorage's legal page gives a complaint route: write to Anchorage Digital NY, LLC, 470 Park Ave. S, FL 9, New York, NY 10016, (415) 941-6300, adny-complaints@anchorlabs.com.2
If that complaint is not resolved, the next step is the New York Department of Financial Services, online or at (800) 342-3736.2
Accounts handled elsewhere5
What Anchorage Digital's agreement and guidance say2
- What it does when notified
Anchorage assigns a representative to guide the estate and, for individual accounts, re-credentials authorized users so custody access can pass to the estate without any private key changing hands.1
Anchorage's legal and compliance teams review the documents and re-run KYC/AML checks on the incoming authorized parties, who must clear the same institutional onboarding standard the deceased person did. This review sets the timeline.1
- How proceeds are paid
Once verified, custodied assets are transferred in kind to a successor custody account, distributed to beneficiaries, or liquidated, as the estate instructs.1
Not in Anchorage Digital's published guidance3
- A procedure for reporting a death
- A claim form
- How long a claim takes
Sources2
Anchorage Digital Client Services can be reached by phone at 1-415-941-6300 and email at contact@anchorage.com for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from Anchorage Digital primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Anchorage Digital death claims support
Anchorage Digital Client Services
Phone
Mailing address
Website
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