Provider at a glance
- Category
- Key Recovery & Inheritance
- Entity
- Not verified
- Official website
- unchained.com
Independent rankingchecked How it works
Details
Scored 49 out of 100 under methodology 2026.10.18, from the evidence read in October 2026.
Unchained
Collaborative Bitcoin custody in the US
Key Recovery & Inheritance
#6 Overall
Ranked #6 of 9 key recovery & inheritance in the published ranking
49
ChainChoice Score
The ChainChoice Score, shown against 100: published scores run from 41 to 99.- High evidence confidence
Is Unchained right for you?
Right for you if these matter most
- If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins?9/10; the category best is 10
- If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register?7/10; the category best is 8
Look elsewhere if these come first
- What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?4/10 here; Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) scores 7
- What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying?6/10 here; Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) scores 8
Not yet tested for your country. Markets it lists: United States.
to test where you can use it.
The rank above is the published one, the same for every reader. Find my best key recovery & inheritance service shows where it lands for you.
What will Unchained cost you?
Not priced on this basis
- Transactions per year
- 1k
How safe is Unchained?
- Evidence: verified4 of 4 criteria rest on quoted, sourced receipts. Read October 2026.
- LicenceMiCA (EU): no register record on file here.
Alternatives to Unchained
Compare all 4- 5Bitkey (Block)5 points above · stronger on trigger enforcement and wrongful release (6 against 4)54
- 7Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve)2 points below · stronger on trigger enforcement and wrongful release (7 against 4)47
- 8Ledger Recover3 points below · stronger on lifetime cost and lapse (7 against 6)46
For your setup
Find out if Unchained fits you
The rank above is the published one — the same for every visitor. Answer the category's questions and this section shows where Unchained lands for you, which criteria your answers weight up, and which stated needs the record does or does not meet. The published rank stays beside it.
- A few questions
- No account required
- Ranking-blind: no commercial input
- Personalised in under 60 seconds
Find my best key recovery & inheritance serviceNothing is inferred from clicks, popularity or commercial value.
Why this rank
Why Unchained ranks #6
Each strength is read from evidence on a 0–10 ladder and weighted as the published methodology states. The 32 objective points these produce (21.2 here) sit inside the score; availability, friction, trust record and measured data add the rest.
4 published criteria · Σ weight 100
CriterionWeightStrength · 0–10ScoreContrib.MedianBestRankEvidence
329+9.226.010#2/9Loading evidence…
284+3.585.09#7/9Loading evidence…
247+5.385.08#2/9Loading evidence…
166+3.077.010#6/9Loading evidence…
Hairline = best in this ranking · tick = its median · a missing bar is "not scored", never zero
Margin−5behind Bitkey (Block), #5
RobustnessOne point from changingacross a one-point change to each of its 4 criterion scores, the re-run scores 47–51 and ranks #6–#7
Evidence4 of 4 scored4 quoted, 4 with a source link
What would move the rank
Each line is the ranking run again with one of Unchained’s criterion scores changed and every other value held: the smallest whole-point change on that criterion that moves its rank, and where the re-run puts it. Up to 4 climbs and 3 falls are listed, smallest change first. Nothing here is a forecast.
What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me? 4 → 8 on its ladder · passes Bitkey (Block)+456#6 → #5
If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins? 9 → 8 on its ladder · Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) passes it−147#6 → #7
What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me? 4 → 3 on its ladder · Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) passes it−147#6 → #7
If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register? 7 → 5 on its ladder · Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) passes it−246#6 → #8
Smallest climb: “What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?” 4 → 8 passes Bitkey (Block), #5.
Strengths
2 from the score dataWhere it leads
Best for readers who weight
- If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins? — 9/10, category best 10/10
- If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register? — 7/10, category best 8/10
Tradeoffs
2 from the score dataWhere it trails
Not for readers who put first
- What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me? — 4/10 against a category best of 9/10
- What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying? — 6/10 against a category best of 10/10
Record watch-outs
- You pay for a plan whose last mile you still have to build yourself — and the vendor tells you so only if you find the right help-centre article. Unchained's own arithmetic is that "two keys are always required to move the bitcoin and Unchained only holds one", yet the free Inheritance Protocol packages exactly ONE seed phrase card for your executor. So the executor you equipped to the vendor's specification cannot move a satoshi without Unchained agreeing to co-sign — and Unchained's own page on the config file says your inheritors "would not necessarily need a copy of this since Unchained can assist them with the transfer when the time comes." That is a single-company dependency dressed as sovereignty. It is undone in one place only, by an optional step buried in a sub-article: hand the executor the wallet configuration file too, and hand them the second key. Do neither and the promise on the marketing page quietly resolves to "call Unchained", which is also the one service the lapse page confirms stops working the month the annual bill goes unpaid — "Access Unchained financial services such as trading and the inheritance recovery workflow" is listed under "What you cannot do without paying", which is precisely the month after you die if nobody kept the card on file.
Competitive position
Where Unchained leads and where it trails
Rank on every objective dimension among the rows scored on it. A criterion in the top third of its pool is listed as a lead, the bottom third as a trail; the middle is neither. Popularity, size and commercial terms are not dimensions.
Availability#7 / 96.0 of 20 · best 14.0
Published criteria#3 / 915.9 of 30 · best 20.4
Friction#1 / 92.7 of 10 · constant here
Trust record#1 / 93.2 of 8 · constant here
Measured data#1 / 98.3 of 18 · constant here
Where Unchained leads
- If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins?#2 / 9
- If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register?#2 / 9
Where it trails
- What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?#7 / 9
Closest alternatives
The 3 nearest rows by score
Nearest by published score in either direction. Each card states the criteria on which the two rows differ and the cost difference under the same scenario inputs; the compare arithmetic below shows why the higher one ranks higher.
Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve)#7 of 9 · score 47 · 2.0 points behind
Unchained leads on
- If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins?9 vs 6
- If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register?7 vs 5
Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) leads on
- What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?7 vs 4
- What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying?8 vs 6
Largest single reason Unchained is ahead: published criteria (+1.6 display points).Scenario cost: Bitcoin Keeper (BitHyve) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Ledger Recover#8 of 9 · score 46 · 3.0 points behind
Unchained leads on
- If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins?9 vs 3
- What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?4 vs 0
Ledger Recover leads on
- What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying?7 vs 6
Largest single reason Unchained is ahead: published criteria (+17.9 display points).Scenario cost: Ledger Recover has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Bitkey (Block)#5 of 9 · score 54 · 5.0 points ahead
Unchained leads on
- If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins?9 vs 3
- If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register?7 vs 6
Bitkey (Block) leads on
- What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?6 vs 4
Largest single reason Bitkey (Block) is ahead: availability (+15.6 display points).Scenario cost: Bitkey (Block) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Against the leader
81 vs 49 · gap 32.0Why Liana (Wizardsardine) ranks above Unchained
The compare workspace's arithmetic applied to these two rows. Each dimension's share of the gap is its weight × the difference, on the displayed scale — it reproduces the displayed gap of 32.0 to within rounding.
DimensionThisLiana (Wizardsardine)Gap share
Availability · 23% weight6.014.0−20.8, worse
Published criteria · 35% weight15.920.4−11.7, worse
Friction · 12% weight · constant here2.72.7same
Trust record · 9% weight · constant here3.23.2same
Measured data · 21% weight · constant here8.38.3same
Published criterionThisLiana (Wizardsardine)Points
If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins? · w32910−1.02, worse
What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me? · w2849−4.48, worse
If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register? · w2475+1.54, better
What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying? · w16610−2.05, worse
Net4981−32.0
Your scenario
Unchained is not priced for this scenario
The cheapest published tier that covers your usage. List price before any discount; add-ons priced separately are excluded. Change an input and every figure recomputes from the published rate; the published rank does not move.
your cost/yr · default scenario — set your own
Transactions per year · your input1k
Rate read from the provider’s published pricing ↗ on 28 October 2026.
your cost/yrCost is stated as your cost/yr in USD; it is never a yield, never annualised, and it does not enter the score.
Not priced on this basis
Under the default inputs · USDCategory medianNot priced0 of 9 rows priced
Cheapest pricedNone pricedDifference not stated · availability not applied — set your country to filter
9 of 9 rows in this ranking have no verified rate for this scenario and are absent from the median, not counted as free.
Evidence
Evidence read 28 October 2026
One row per published criterion: the page each strength was read from, its source type by domain, the reading date and whether the file and the published table agree. Open a row for the quote and the receipt.
4 of 4 cells scored
Score evidenceVerified4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from receipts
4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from a quoted, sourced receipt equal to the published strength.Public receiptsReading…4 quoted with a source URL
The receipt file has not been read yet.Evidence confidenceHighcoverage and corroboration, never freshness
4/4 criteria scored, with 4 dated sources quoted.RobustnessOne point from changingrank #6 to #7 across one-point re-runs
Whether the position holds when one criterion score is changed by one point and the ranking is run again. It is always a re-run of the ranking, never an estimate.The newest evidence read on the platform is 3 November 2026; this category's reading is older. The scores stand as read on 28 October 2026.
Reading the evidence ledger…
CriterionSourceTypeReadFreshnessStatusReceipt
If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins?strength 9 · weight 32Report an error—28 October 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me?strength 4 · weight 28Report an error—28 October 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register?strength 7 · weight 24Report an error—28 October 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying?strength 6 · weight 16Report an error—28 October 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
- Control failure (Unchained 4/10): a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.Scored by What actually makes the handover happen — code, a contract, or somebody's goodwill? And who can start it without me? · 28%
- Execution failure (Unchained 7/10): you get a worse price, later, or nothing.Scored by If this fails, who is actually on the hook — and can I find their number in a register? · 24%
- Exit failure (Unchained 9/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.Scored by If this company is gone in twenty years, can the person I chose still move the coins? · 32%
Not assessed by this ranking: Custody failure, Key failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means. Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: What does this cost me every year until I die, and what happens to my heir if I stop paying? (16%).
Facts
facts, not scoresWhat the record publishes
- Pricing
- From https://
www .unchained .com /pricing (read 28 September 2026): Vaults — "Institutional-grade security built for self-custody, with the same bitcoin security principles used by major custodians." "$250" "per vault/year" | Inheritance Boot Camp — "$ 4000" "per client" "Renews at $4500/year" "Billed annually" (inclusions list "First year of vault subscription and extra seat") | Unchained Signature — "$ 6000" "first year" "Renews at $4500/year" "Billed annually" (inclusions list "Inheritance setup and coordination for your heirs") | Premium Service Suites, one-off, "For you": "Strengthen your setup" "$1,650" (includes "Your beneficiaries setup for your bitcoin" and "First year personal vault"), "Hold your own keys" "$1,900", "Retire with bitcoin" "$2,650"; "For two": "$2,400", "$2,650", "$3,400" | Concierge Session "$1200 $750" "Per hour charge." (inclusions list "External recovery with Caravan or Sparrow wallet") | Bitcoin IRA "$250" "per IRA account/year" ("IRA trading fee is 1.5%") | Trading Desk "1.0%" "flat fee" | Commercial Loans "12.0%" "Interest Rate", "$150,000 min. loan amount". In the price cards the numeral and its unit label render as adjacent elements; the strings above are as displayed. The Inheritance Protocol document set itself is free — https:// help .unchained .com /no-estate-plan: "Inheritance Protocol: Use our free Inheritance Protocol to help pass along a key to your vault."Unchained — official pricing page ↗ · 28 October 2026 - Prices published in
- USDUnchained — official pricing page ↗ · 28 October 2026
- Licences held
- Not published
- Compliance level
- partial
- Regulatory note
- ENFORCEMENT LOCATION: a discretionary operational review by Unchained's Estate Services Team plus a probate court's paperwork. NOTHING is enforced on-chain — no timelock, no decaying multisig, no published spending policy appears on any Unchained page.
- Supported chains
- Bitcoin
- Markets served
- us
- Primary markets
- Not published
- Restricted markets
- Not published
- Operating limits
- Not published
- Availability note
- A HARD MARKET RESTRICTION, not the usual sanctions boilerplate — and both are present, separately. (1) MARKET RESTRICTION, read on https://
help .unchained .com /what-personal-information-is-needed-to-set-up-a-vault (17 August 2026): "Note: We only service accounts with a U.S. residential address. We do not allow creation of international accounts at this time." Narrower still for the inheritance feature itself, read on https:// help .unchained .com /who-can-i-add-as-a-beneficiary (17 August 2026): "Only U.S.-based accounts can add beneficiaries.", "Accounts in U.S. territories or the state of Louisiana are not eligible to designate personal TOD beneficiaries.", "Personal beneficiaries must be U.S.-based." and "IRA accounts are available for legal U.S. residents." Also on https:// www .unchained .com /pricing: "IRA Details: Available in US only." So Louisiana residents and US-territory residents are excluded from the TOD path even though they can hold a vault. (2) SEPARATELY, the standard OFAC representation that nearly every crypto ToS carries, read on https:// www .unchained .com /terms-of-service (17 August 2026): the user represents they are not "the target of any laws administered by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC")" nor "located, organized, or resident in a country or territory that is, or whose government is, the target of sanctions imposed by OFAC". That is an eligibility rule applying everywhere and is NOT the regional footprint. The footprint is US-only by the vendor's own address rule. Note the ToS also carves out further state-level limits for OTHER products — "You must be a resident of one of the Loan Authorized States to apply for a Bitcoin Secured Loan or one of the Trading Desk Authorized States to use Trading Desk Services" — which do not bear on vaults or inheritance. - CCSS level
- Not on the register as read 15 October 2026 (absent from that page, not a finding that no audit exists)C4 completed CCSS audits register ↗ · 15 October 2026
No confirmed legal entity is on file for this record. Nothing is inferred from the brand name.
If something goes wrong with Unchained: where to complain, and where to report a scam
Loading the routes for your country.
How this page is reviewed
Reviewed means this product in this category was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.
How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money
History
What the record carries
Changes to published ranks are recorded in a ledger; every step and its cause is listed on the rank-history page. The entries below begin with the current verified snapshot, then the methodology versions whose changes applied to this category, newest first.
10 methodology entries
- 28 October 2026Current verified snapshot · methodology 2026.10.18Score 49, #6 of 9. 4 of 4 criteria scored. History starts here; earlier values are not interpolated.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.8When nothing serves your country, the list shown for reference is the published ranking · platform-wide- fixed The reference list shown when nothing serves your country is the published order with the published scores, and a build check now fails any such list out of that order or with a score the ranking does not publish.
- fixed The explorer prints an overall rank only for a row the published ranking holds; a country entrant such as Coinbase Commerce for US merchants shows no overall rank.
- changed Published orders do not move. Country results change only where nothing serves the country: in India bill pay keeps Bitcoin Well first and now shows Strike second, as published; 35 such runs across all categories and countries now match the published list exactly.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.7Forty-one more products are offered only where their own quoted terms serve- fixed 141 country exclusions on 31 rows, each the name of a country the row's own quoted terms exclude: for example Mercuryo Hungary, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia and Morocco; Gemini Custody the United Kingdom, Australia and the EU after its wind-down; Backed xStocks the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Venezuela.
- changed Thirteen rows list the only countries their terms serve: Coins.ph the Philippines, Spritz bill pay, Brex, Unchained, WisdomTree, Franklin BENJI and AnchorWatch the United States (with its territories for AnchorWatch), PRYPCO Mint the UAE, N26 crypto seven EU countries, Gemini Tokenized Stocks the EU, XNET the US, Canada and the UK, Coldbit Steel and MetaMask Card the countries they list.
- changed Published (no-country) orders do not move. Country results change: in India six categories each lose one row (bill pay, cards, off-ramps, P2P, seed backup, tokenised real estate), and bill pay there has no row confirmed available, so it shows the published order marked as such; country pages list 23 fewer rows (24,357 to 24,334). The grounding test now matches full country names in any case, which shows seven earlier exclusions were quoted all along: the named debt of unquoted exclusions falls from 40 to 33 pairs.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.6A criterion you require re-scores the rows that meet it · platform-wide- changed The explorer sends each criterion you require, at any band, as fit_required with your other answers; region, licence, chain and fact filters stay filters. On /best, a required criterion joins For you as a marked preference does, which needs your country; Overall stays the published ranking, filtered.
- added Every published criterion has a golden case as the explorer sends it (require:<criterion>), so the order a requirement gives is replayed and gated as the published order is, and a change to it needs an entry here.
Methodology 2026.10.18, the same published run every visitor sees · receipt key_recovery:unchained:2026.10.18:9e23226e3510
Are you Unchained? Reply to this verdict, or send evidence, ask for a correction or claim the listing. Every message gets a public ticket number; none of it changes a rank unless a public page or a signed statement supports it.