Tomorrow Labs, maker of crypto inheritance wallet, to shut down

Tomorrow Labs, a cryptocurrency wallet startup designed to let users pass digital assets to heirs, is shutting down its business just months after it was founded.

Fintech Futures reported on Oct. 5 that Tomorrow Labs was founded earlier this year by CEO Johnny Reinsch (조니 라인슈) and CTO James Tse (제임스 체). The Santa Monica, California-based company also raised funding from institutional investors including Draper Associates.

Its core service was a cryptocurrency wallet with a digital asset succession function. It was designed so users could name beneficiaries while alive and transfer held assets to heirs after death. The goal was to solve the problem of cryptocurrency being permanently locked due to lost private keys or death.

But the pace of market adoption fell short of the company's expectations. In a LinkedIn post on Oct. 4, Reinsch said: "Early data and conversations with users confirmed interest in digital asset succession, but not many users took action." He added: "People recognize its importance, but they do not act until something triggers them," and said the market did not grow fast enough to keep the business going.

As it winds down, Tomorrow Labs told customers to move assets held in its wallet to another wallet or service by Oct. 9. Reinsch added: "We are in talks with several groups about the possibility of acquiring part of the company's business."

Reinsch stressed that shutting down does not change his belief that the issue of digital asset succession must be addressed. He said the outcome was not what he had expected, but he saw meaning in the fact that discussions around cryptocurrency inheritance and succession had progressed compared with when the company was founded.