Bequeath: Inheritance tracking

Living wills have been around for centuries. We need to move them to a blockchain with NFTs & added benefits of real-time data availability.

I have 20 years of full-stack (MS) development experience. I'm also an Entrepreneur that would love to leave something useful behind.

I have conceptualized a number of tokens over the past several months and I've been looking for a home for them.

After exploring numerous possibilities such as Ethereum, LINK, DOT, and Stellar, I came across Cardano. After watching a few videos with Charles, I soon became a huge fan as well as an investor, with ADA as one of my top holdings. I would love the opportunity to bring my ideas to fruition on the Cardano network while contributing to its growth and utility offerings.

The first idea I would like to propose uses a multi-asset, extensible token which I have named "Bequeath (BEQ)".

5 of these tokens are "Executor (EXEC)", "Codicil (CODI)", "Timespan (SPAN)", "Trigger (TRGR)", and "Hash Me (ME)".

• Note: Information on these tokens is limited to their use in this project. I will create separate proposals for each where appropriate.

About the Bequeath token

• Would act as an on-chain Last Will and Testament; if you will (pun intended), but could also perform as a Dynasty Trust and a Codicil

• Can store ownership of 1 or more items; in full or partial amount, depending on the asset.

• The assets could be anything (physical property, digital assets, accounts, wallets, NFTs, IP, etc.). Basically, anything you could transfer ownership of.

• There are many options for its operation, which are defined when it is created and amendable until executed and/or burned.

Some problems with Last Will and Testaments

1. Locating them: If the descendent did not share the location (or existence) of their will with someone, it could be anywhere.

• Somewhere in their home

• In a safe deposit box. This can be especially tricky because banks often only grant access to the owner of the contents unless you have authority over it (through a Power of Attorney or as a Will's executor).

• With the descendant's lawyer

• Filed with their local Probate Court.

2. It could be lost, damaged or victim of maleficence.

3. Its authenticity could be contested (for instance allegations that the will-maker was unduly influenced or lacked mental capacity.)

4. It may never be executed because its existence or the descendant's death are not known about.

Immutability, redundancy, and extensibility

1. Being on a blockchain makes it immutable and highly redundant.

2. If the creator wishes to modify the token, they will need to burn and recreate it.

3. The token may be amended by attaching other tokens.

• "Codicil (CODI)" - an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes all or part of a BEQ token, but cannot replace it.

o You may wish to add or revoke a gift under your will for one of the following reasons:

o The gift is no longer available.

o You have changed your mind as to who should receive gifts in it.

o You wish to add a new beneficiary – such as a new grandchild.

o The person to receive the gift in your will has died, or

o to increase the value of your cash gift to reflect inflation since the will was made.

• "Executor (EXEC)" – Token containing

o Information about the person or agency in charge of making sure the wishes of the deceased are carried out.

o The specifics of how the execution is to be performed.

o Instructions for handling. As well as handling the final affairs of the estate.

Execution Trigger Automation

1. Another optional extension token is defining automated triggers.

2. These extensions could be real-time monitors or timed checks.

3. One mechanism would be through Oracles that access off-chain data.

Some examples being:

• Death records from the National Death Index, Vital Records Archive, or various other APIs.

• Marital status change, graduations, and criminal records

4. "Trigger (TRGR)" – A smart contract that that causes an action based on an event.

• More on this token in a separate proposal

5. If any trigger event is detected, such as the ones above, then the execution will be triggered and carried out according to its operating rules.

For example, if the token is emulating a Dynasty Trust:

• Distributions might be made for a beneficiary's education and living expenses until age 21.

• Subsequent distributions might depend on the beneficiaries graduating from college or staying employed.

• One-time distributions of principal might be made when other milestones are met, such as reaching a certain age.

• Distributions could increase upon marriage.

• The inheritance could be spread across multiple generations.

6. The possibilities for defining or extending the token are limited only to the imagination.

Legal Binding

1. Currently, most states only require you to print your name, and have it witnessed by 2 adults.

2. "Hash Me (ME)" – an NFT containing extensive information about its owner.

• Credentials

• Date of birth, SSN (or other IDs)

• Physical characteristics

• Blood Type

• Allergies

• Biometrics (fingerprints, retina scans, voice signatures, etc.)

• Genome

• Etc.

• All information in the token would be combined into a single, Globally Unique Identifier, using a strong cryptographical hashing algorithm such as SHA256 or SHA512.

• Could be stored in wearable ADA wallets such as wristbands.

• More on this token in a separate proposal

3. In the context of this proposal. Owners of ME tokens could use their tokens as signatures.

Token purchase, creation, and finalization

• Via dApps by individuals and stored in their ADA wallet of choice

• From lawyers, banks, estate planners, or other such entities who would also be using various software.

Benefits to Society

• Outside of solving for the current issues, new opportunities would be created for professionals in various capacities throughout the lifecycle.

• A new de facto standard for defining, storing, tracking, and triggering inheritance-related events.

Benefits to Cardano

• Additional real-world utility

• Development would require the creation of various components that could be reused and extended by other developers. Such as:

 Timed triggers for on-chain events

 Fetching and working with off-chain information

• To my knowledge, we would be the first to offer extensible tokens without rolling the functionality into a single smart contract, while also allowing the extensions to detached without destroying the parent token.

Tech Stack

• dApp front-ends would be created as PWAs (Progressive Web Applications) using HTML5 and TypeScript.

 This allows them to be platform and device agnostic. As well as mobile responsive and installable.

• Scheduled actions and triggered events would run as smart contracts on the Node.

 Full tech involved TBD

 Prefer TypeScript (JS) over Solidity

• Native tokens will be stored in the user's choice of ADA-compatible wallet.

• The backend will be .NET implementations of existing offerings

• I hope to work with other .Net developers who are working on .Net libraries, such as Kyle at CardanoSharp to build their libraries while implementing them in my projects.

Time Frame

• There are a lot of unknowns such as

 The current technologies available

 My availability. I currently work full-time as a Principal Software Engineer for a factoring company and do side work to supplement my income and learn different technologies.

 Interest from others that want to help.

 The extent of development efforts. i.e., Multiple tokens = multiple projects

• Given the unknowns and assuming a part-time, solo effort I would expect a minimum of 8 months for planning, R&D, development, integration testing, ICO, etc.

Funding

• If I had my druthers, I would quit my job and have my full and part-time income replaced to go all in.

• Assuming that's unlikely, I would need to replace my part-time income, cover provisioning of cloud infrastructure, artwork, legal fees, marketing efforts, and pad for unknowns.

• If there is a genuine interest in these projects I will put together a formal estimate.