What Happens to Your Bitcoin if Onramp Goes Away?

If Onramp stopped operating tomorrow, your bitcoin would still be yours and you could still get to it. It sits in its own vault on the bitcoin network, titled in your name, and it is not an asset on Onramp's balance sheet. Three institutions protect it, and the other two, BitGo Trust and CoinCover, can carry out a documented recovery process with you without Onramp's participation. Every account includes a recovery kit with step-by-step instructions for exactly that situation, and it does not require technical expertise. Neither you nor your family ever has to hold or manage a key.

Your Bitcoin Is Not an Asset of Onramp's

The reason custodian failures have cost people so much is that the bitcoin was never really theirs in a legal or practical sense. When an exchange or custodian holds client funds in pooled wallets on its own books, clients become creditors when it fails, and they wait in line with everyone else. The history of Prime Trust, FTX, and others is largely a history of that arrangement.

Onramp is built the other way. Each client's bitcoin is held in a dedicated, segregated vault that is never pooled with anyone else's, and you can see that vault on any block explorer at any time. The bitcoin is legally titled to you, not carried as a claim on Onramp. If Onramp went through bankruptcy, your bitcoin would not be part of the bankruptcy estate, because it was never Onramp's property to begin with. Onramp is also legally required to provide signing services even through bankruptcy proceedings.

Three Institutions, and No One of Them Acts Alone

Three institutions protect your bitcoin: Onramp in Texas, BitGo Trust in South Dakota, and CoinCover in the UK. No one of them can lose it, move it, or use it, and nothing moves without your permission. It takes two of three institutions to move your bitcoin.

That two-of-three structure is what makes the answer to this question simple. In the custodian and exchange failures that cost people their bitcoin, one company's collapse, hack, or fraud was enough to cause a permanent loss. Here, no single institution, Onramp included, can cause a permanent loss of your bitcoin on its own. Day to day, Onramp handles client operations and BitGo Trust independently verifies and completes each transaction you request. CoinCover is the recovery specialist, and it steps in only if Onramp cannot act. Because any two of the three are enough, losing one institution, including Onramp, does not cost you access to your bitcoin.

How Recovery Works Without Onramp

The recovery process was designed from day one not to depend on Onramp existing. If Onramp becomes unresponsive, CoinCover and BitGo Trust carry out recovery together after a defined waiting period, working with you and without Onramp's participation. The process is documented, and clients have tested it independently.

You do not need Onramp's help to start, and you do not need to be technical. Every account includes a downloadable recovery kit with plain-English instructions for completing a recovery for each of your vaults, written so that a spouse or executor who has never handled bitcoin can follow it. In your account, open Settings from your name in the top right corner, go to the Recovery section, and download the PDF instructions.

What to Do Today

A recovery plan only helps if it can be found when it is needed. Three steps take a few minutes:

1. Download your recovery kit from Settings, then Recovery, and store it with your estate documents.

2. Tell the person who would act for you where it is. If a spouse or executor would be the one handling this, they should know the kit exists before they need it.

3. Check your vault on a block explorer once, so you know what verifying your own bitcoin looks like.

If you have not yet named beneficiaries on your account, that is worth doing at the same time. The recovery kit covers Onramp going away. Inheritance planning covers you going away, and the two work best together. Could Your Family Recover Your Bitcoin Without You? walks through that side.

Why This Question Deserves a Direct Answer

"What happens if the company fails?" is the right question to ask any custody provider, and most cannot answer it with anything better than reassurance. The honest version of the answer depends on three things you can check: whether the bitcoin is legally yours, whether it is held separately where you can see it, and whether someone other than the company can help you move it. Onramp's answer to all three is yes, and each one is verifiable rather than a promise. For the full checklist applied to Onramp, see Is Onramp Safe?. For how bankruptcy courts have treated client assets at other firms, see Can Bitcoin Be Clawed Back in a Bankruptcy? and What Was the Prime Trust Bankruptcy?.

FAQ

If Onramp goes bankrupt, is my bitcoin part of the bankruptcy?

No. Your bitcoin is held in a segregated vault titled in your name, so it is your property, not Onramp's, and it is not part of any Onramp bankruptcy estate. Onramp is also legally required to keep providing signing services through bankruptcy proceedings.

Who helps me recover my bitcoin if Onramp is gone?

BitGo Trust and CoinCover, the other two institutions that protect your vault. They carry out a documented recovery process with you after a defined waiting period, without Onramp's participation, using the instructions in your recovery kit.

What if BitGo Trust or CoinCover goes away instead?

It takes two of three institutions to move your bitcoin, so losing any one institution does not cost you access. The remaining two can still carry out the transactions you request.

Do I need to do anything now?

Download your recovery kit from Settings, then Recovery, and keep it with your estate documents. Make sure whoever would act for you knows where it is.

Does Onramp's insurance cover Onramp going out of business?

Your protection if Onramp fails comes from legal title and the recovery process described above, not from insurance. Separately, Onramp maintains custody insurance through Canopius, a Lloyd's of London syndicate: up to $50M in aggregate coverage across its custody operations, for specific insured events.