A Nigerian lawyer, Stan Alieke, has narrated how his late client, an early crypto adopter and wealthy investor, left his family in financial distress after dying in an auto crash last year without disclosing his digital assets.
According to Alieke, the deceased, known for his conservative lifestyle, held no less than 7 Bitcoin along with other cryptocurrencies. Despite his substantial wealth, he reportedly refused to reveal the existence or access details of his crypto portfolio to his wife due to a lack of trust.
The lawyer revealed that the widow and her young children are now struggling to survive, unaware of the fortune that could have secured their future. With no passwords or wallet access, the digital assets are now effectively unreachable and risk remaining dormant forever unless illegally accessed by hackers.
Alieke described the situation as a cautionary tale, urging individuals to disclose their assets, including crypto, to trusted family members or advisors. He emphasized the importance of transparency, wills, and legal safeguards like prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, especially for those with dependents.
He stressed that while some people hide their wealth to avoid potential exploitation by their partners, withholding access to assets can leave families vulnerable after an unexpected death.
The lawyer wrote; “A client died of an auto crash last year. He’s a very rich guy but conservative, quite deep into crypto; one of the earliest adopters in Nigeria, I know for a fact that he was HODling nothing less than 7Btc with other varieties of coins before his death. He always told me that he didn’t trust his wife so he didn’t disclose any of his crypto assets to his wife & the wife had no idea how rich he was. I got to know earlier this week that the wife & their young children have been struggling. If only he had disclosed his crypto logins to his wife or any of their family members, the family would have been settled for life even in his absence but as it stands now, those cryptos will lie waste unless a hacker gets a hold of them.
This is not legal advice but life advice. Try to disclose all of your assets & how to access them to someone. If you don’t trust your partner, you must have a sibling or your parents, or even an advisor to trust. I understand that some people think that if their partner knows how rich they are they might want to “play a fast one” on them but it’s better to take that gamble especially if there are children involved because nobody knows when death will come. If you don’t trust your partner that much, have a prenuptial agreement before going into the marriage or a postnuptial instead of hiding your assets or pretending to be a broke person before your family.
Also once you start making good money, consider drafting your WILL listing your assets >>>”
Note that 1BTC is N135,846,033.75 (N135.8m) and 7BTC will be 950,922.236.25 (N950.9M), which is almost N1billion.
realchinonso1 said, “Why then are you even married in the first place, now the woman and kids are struggling. May I never understand what people mean by they don’t trust their partner ooh, cos even from the time I was dating my wife she manages all my crypto till date, she understands crypto even more than me and manages my account from then till now, I mean she manages everything even all my Naira as well. She holds all the money I make from multiple sources till date. I do all I do for my wife and children, they are the reason I’m grinding hard and doing everything, why should they be kept in the shadows about my earnings. I thank God for the kind of person my wife is; I trusted her right from dating days, till date she manages everything very well, in fact she holds all the money and I ask for any amount with clear explanations when I need anything and she gives me from the accounts, she pays staffs and do the transfers when I want to get anything off her presence. Some people don’t know how relieving it is to have your wife handle the resources and finances you make or earn, especially if she’s a good woman which you as a man have to help her become some way by building some virtues into her, start by trusting a woman, if you are the type who believes a woman destroys man that is where your problems start from in a marriage; if you learn to trust she will do anything to keep that trust once you are cleared she loves you,; trust won’t be an issue if she loves you. 80% of Your life, if not your whole life, will be lived in peace when your wife knows your sources of income, understands how rich/poor you are, have access to the resources, manages it very well in your behalf and generally can tell when you’re on a high or low season financially.”
winniefrancesdaniels2015 wrote, “A stingy man will be stingy to his children also, he doesn’t even care if they suffer, he is after his own money.”
1eminence commented, “You went extra mile. Married. Ate her food. Slept on the same bed. But it is money that you don’t trust her with. I am not saying things don’t happen but this part of “trust” even after trusting her with your life is something I think I might not understand.”
only_1astro shared, “Before you judge the man, remember you are not in the marriage with them and you don’t have full context.”
the_ceo_nextdoor remarked, “Life is hard for young men, even after the struggle to get all the money you still don’t feel safe around the people that are supposed to be most important in your life – family ( sad reality ).”
pray11_11 spills, “Why marry who you can’t trust ?”
In the end, the story has sparked a wider conversation about trust, transparency, and financial planning within families. Many Nigerians are using the incident as a sobering reminder that hidden assets can become worthless if loved ones are left in the dark. As reactions continue to pour in, the lawyer’s message remains clear: wealth without a plan can leave those left behind in deeper hardship.
This is very weird?
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