The Story That Made Me Build Cipherwill

Shivam Shinde — Wed, 21 May 2025 19:28:42 +0000

i started it because one day i read this weirdly simple, sad story online. a guy passed away - just some normal crypto/creator dude - and his family couldn’t access anything. no logins. no wallets. no passwords. gone. millions lost. digital accounts just... locked in time.

that stuck with me way more than i expected. i kept thinking: if i died today, would anyone know how to get into my stuff and recover all crypto that i stacked on different platforms? probably not. and that’s not because i have millions (i wish), but because our lives are so deeply tied to digital accounts now. everything from money to memories is behind a login screen.

and yet - no one talks about what happens to it all when we're gone.

so that’s where cipherwill came from. a simple thought:

what if there was a way to securely pass on your digital life - only when needed, and to only the right people?

i wasn’t trying to build “death tech” or something dystopian. it actually feels like the opposite. i wanted to build something that gives peace of mind. that quietly works in the background while you live your life.

what it actually does

it’s basically a dead man's switch for your digital stuff.

you store all your important info - bank details, crypto, passwords, last wishes, files, whatever. it's all encrypted. not even we can read it.

then you set your conditions: if you’re inactive for a long time, the system checks in. if you still don’t respond, it starts the process of sending your data to whoever you chose.

so your people get what they need - when they actually need it.

what this is really about

if i’m being honest, cipherwill isn’t about tech. it’s about control. about making sure you’re not forgotten in a mess of lost logins and “we couldn’t recover the account” emails.

i keep thinking about how much we create online:

photos. passwords. investments. projects. ideas. dms we want to keep. dms we don’t.

and when we die, it just becomes a giant black box.

cipherwill is my way of opening that box - safely, respectfully - and handing it to the right person.

the weirdest part

i used to think this was kind of a niche thing. “maybe people with crypto will care.”

but the more people i talked to, the more i realized everyone is quietly worried about this. parents. freelancers. creators. people with side businesses. people who just want to make sure someone can access their iCloud when they're gone.

i’ve even had people message me saying, “i didn’t know how much this mattered to me until now.”

what i hope for

i don’t know if cipherwill becomes huge or stays small. but i do know this:

if it helps even one family avoid that panic of not knowing what to do when someone’s gone… then it was worth building.

this platform isn’t about death. it’s about legacy. and peace. and letting people live fully without worrying about what happens after.

DEV Community: Shivam Shinde

The Story That Made Me Build Cipherwill