# How it Works ![Screenshot](/files/1a8d7c466272e73beb3d77e0d277632ead1afb2e) To use GenWealth you need to have a Cardano wallet. You connect that wallet to our website and you will be able to create a Smart Wallet where you can create your Blockchain Will and a Plan B for your crypto. This Smart Wallet is controlled by the wallet you connected, and you will leverage your private wallet signature to validate any actions in the Smart Wallet. The Smart Wallet lets you do everything you do with a wallet — hold, receive, stake, participate in governance, interact with dApps, and spend cryptocurrency. In addition, you can leverage our smart contract capabilities to create your Blockchain Will and a Recovery Plan that only you control. ## Inheritance triggers When creating your Smart Wallet and your Will, you select your preferred inheritance trigger. In our first version we start with a simple, legally compliant, and completely trustless solution: Proof of Life. ### Proof of Life * You set a deadline of your preference and must occasionally update it to prove you’re alive and prevent the inheritance trigger. * Example: set a deadline and “show up” once a year to prove you’re alive. * Whenever you use the assets in your wallet, the deadline updates automatically. * Chosen because of reliability, low cost, simplicity, and avoiding intermediaries and legal complexity. ### Nominated person to trigger inheritance * Optionally, you can nominate a professional or someone you trust to trigger the Inheritance mode on the wallet once you pass away. * Use carefully — this introduces a layer of trust in the nominated person(s). ### Decentralized ID (DID) / Verifiable Credentials (future, jurisdiction-dependent) * A more complex trigger being explored for specific countries upon justifiable user demand. * Instead of validating actions with your wallet, you create a self-sovereign Decentralized ID (DID) on the blockchain and use this DID to approve Smart Wallet actions. * Beneficiaries must also create their DID and use it to validate their claim. * Beneficiaries can trigger inheritance using a marketplace of verifiers accredited in the jurisdiction to validate death documentation. * The verifier issues a Verifiable Credential (if correct), which the beneficiary submits to claim the inheritance from the smart contract. * This approach blends technology with existing legal processes but requires significant resources to ensure compliance with inheritance law per country. * Note: some jurisdictions may still require sharing personal data with government authorities, which introduces privacy concerns and a central point of failure. * Drawbacks: more complex, bureaucratic, time-consuming, costly, and may require exposing personal data; advantage: beneficiaries are responsible for proving death rather than the owner proving they are alive. Other options such as integrations with national registers via Oracles will be explored where public information exists. ## Setting up beneficiaries and assets * Select beneficiaries by creating a name and associating the wallet addresses they control. * For each beneficiary you can: * Assign specific assets from your Smart Wallet, or * Define a share of the total assets in your Smart Wallet. * You can add as many beneficiaries as you want and repeat this process for each. ## Executors / Lawyers and permissions You can optionally add an executor (lawyer or trusted person) and give them specific permissions without giving them access to control the assets. Assigning permissions follows a similar onboarding: identify the person and their wallet addresses, then select the powers to grant. Currently supported permissions: * Change Inheritance rules — allows the executor to make changes to the will (without access to assets). Useful when a professional helps create a valid will. * Close DeFi Positions — allows a professional/trusted person to close open DeFi positions (control needed to manage assets), but with limited front-end access. Important before inheritance so DeFi positions can be called back and distributed. * Fractionalization of Assets — allows fractionalizing assets (e.g., NFTs) to divide ownership for equal distribution. Important for real-world assets like properties or titles. * Trigger Inheritance State — allows a nominated person to verify death and trigger inheritance for the Smart Wallet. You may assign multiple or different permissions to different executors. These permissions are optional — you can skip this stage and create a compliant will by yourself; smart contracts will execute your wishes trustlessly. ## Handling unclaimed assets * You can define a time period after which any unclaimed assets are automatically redistributed among active beneficiaries according to the original proportional weights. * This ensures inactive or rejecting beneficiaries do not cause assets to be locked or lost. * It introduces a second layer of inheritance, triggered by time, to ensure your legacy reaches those who want it. ## Recovery economy (opt-in) * As an additional safeguard, GenWealth envisions a Recovery Economy: an opt-in system to ensure unclaimed crypto assets are redirected toward positive societal impact. * The goal: a fairer, more democratic redistribution of lost value with accountability and measurable impact of the recovered assets , instead of transferring value to a centralized entity, such as a government where there is no accountability or transparency on how the assets are being used. * Whenever there are unclaimed Inheritances after a long period of time defined by the user, those assets can be claimed into a Smart Contract DAO Treasury. * GenWealth users can propose and vote on how to reintroduce this money into the economy (public goods, charities, blockchain/real-world projects). * As with any economy, circular incentives for participants will exist and the more assets flow through it, the higher its value. * The DAO ensures the whishes of the majority are respect, and at the same time provides the framework for reporting and accountability of any of the projects. ## Unlimited updatability At any time you can edit any component of your will: * add/remove beneficiaries, * add/remove executors, * change executor permissions, * edit proof of life deadline, * edit recovery deadline and permissions, * add/remove/edit addresses for beneficiaries or executors. ## Fractionalization * Fractionalization is available to both executors (when granted permission) and you directly: * Divide an asset into an arbitrary number of shares. * Reconstitute the original asset by reuniting all shares. * Fractionalization allows you to divide and NFT or an RWA accross mutiple beneficiaries, giving them a share of control over the assets. * Beneficaries or future owners who get control over all the shares can reunite them to reconstitute the orignal asset. * Important feature for compliance with Inheritance law accross different jurisdictions. ## Charity partnerships (future) * In the future, GenWealth aims to partner with charities so you can add them as beneficiaries and ensure part of your digital legacy supports causes that matter to you. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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