DeWill: A decentralized Will

[yaswanthramanam]

Open Grant Proposal: DeWill , a decentralized Will

Proposal Category: Storage

Individual or Entity Name: Bharat Siva Yaswanth Ramanam

Proposer: yaswanthramanam

Project Repo(s): https://github.com/yaswanthramanam/DeWillFE,
https://github.com/yaswanthramanam/DeWillBE

(Optional) Filecoin ecosystem affiliations: NA

(Optional) Technical Sponsor: NA

Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this RFP under the MIT/Apache-2 dual-license?: Yes.

Project Summary

Introduction:

Blockchain is one of the most exciting technologies that is going in the World right now. It deals with major issues like transparency, centralisation, and challenges a lot of legacy protocols followed today that were often exploited.

Yet, its adaptation is less than what it should have been. As of December 2024, only 4% of the world’s population use blockchain, i.e; around 300 million users.

Few common reasons for this includes:

1. Lack of skill for using a highly tech driven ledger based protocol as blockchain.
2. Trust, given its new, challenging a centralised system that had presence over
   centuries.
3. Fear of losing funds, given rising issues of complaints over lost wallets and assets over years.
4. Awareness, given it’s been discussed less, especially in non-west countries.

What is DeWill:

DeWill is a decentralised Will, which helps users help retain their lost crypto wallets and assets.

DeWill, is inspired by a traditional Will which is a legal document that is often used to distribute funds to the heirs of a deceased.

Impact

As quoted above, the uncertainty built around crypto assets played a major role in the deceleration of blockchain adoption. Lost assets due to forgotten private keys, unclaimed assets of a deceased, and theft have been few of the reasons.

It's funny how people, even the ones as close as siblings, observe things differently. But the perception of uncertainty panics a wider spectrum of people, mostly the common.

DeWill wants to change this scenario, and remove the uncertainty. We want to give the users a vote of confidence through our protocol, and help them secure their assets through the form of Decentralized wills, at a cost of a tiny gas fee.

Outcomes

1. A platform where a user/ a wallet can create a Will.
2. A platform where heirs get a chance to withdraw funds, either of a deceased, or of a lost wallet.
3. A user optionally, can stake their assets for rewards.
4. An heir will get minimal education about crypto assets, to be ready for handling the redirected assets.
5. A non tech heir, has options to retrieve the funds using off chain protocols.( We don’t want to abandon the 96% of the world). An heir will be a recipient in one's Will. The update regarding the lost/ hereditary funds are communicated to the user through a widely used messaging protocol as email once the inactivity of a wallet hits the threshold time.
6. An engaging story-based application, with philosophical characters like Angels and devils to educate users while using the platform.

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

Target Audience: The problem of lost funds is universal. So, i see all the crypto users as my target audience. Also, the advantage of using DeWill is, it also addresses the 96% of the world who doesn't use crypto. Assume a skilled crypto user, securing his/ her funds with DeWill. It not only benefits the funds of the user, but also, dewill addresses the possibility of the heir in the Will, not being well educated regarding crypto. The platform takes the initiative to educate the heirs, and also is exploring ways to retrieve the assets to the real world, if the heir can't be trusted to handle the crypto assets securely.

I've communicated with a lot of developers/ users, that I know, who addressed a same problem regarding the lost assets. I have tried to check possible existing solutions for retrieving the lost assets, but there are near to none, that are well established. So, with just a proper working protocol, DeWill may get the users even with less marketing, given the scale of the issue.

I see hackathons a great way of marketing the product, which is especially done often in web 3 domain. I would use a hackathon platform as a marketing tool to let developers get equipped with my application to help them understand the benefits of a decentralized will.

Also, given my idea to make the website more engaging with a story driven philosophical characters, I'll ensure the users are engaged and educated while using the app, without compromising the performance of the application.

Development Roadmap

Total Budget Requested

Milestone #	Description	Deliverables	Completion Date	Funding
1	Smart Contract Development & Security Audits	Implement & audit smart contracts; integrate EVM-supported tokens	June, 2025	$3000
2	User-Friendly Will Creation & Heir Retrieval	Develop UI/UX for Will creation; implement off-chain retrieval for non-tech heirs	September 2025	$5,000
3	Marketing & Launch	Launch story-based tutorials (Angels & Devils); integrate interactive heir education	December	$5,000

Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

Team

Team Members

Bharat Siva Yaswanth Ramanam

Team Member LinkedIn Profiles

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharat-siva-yaswanth-ramanam/

Team Website

https://yaswanthramanam.github.io/Portfolio/

Relevant Experience

I have been working on web3 and web2 development for over 4 years now, across different paradigms, architectures and ideas. I have worked on blockchain applications of different layers, understanding their best practices. I am a developer who values security over design, and put a lot of research on the applications I build. I have always been a curious developer with lot of unique yet achievable ideas and is very much interested in solving real world problems. I've read a lot of books and documentations on software development, web3, and startups, making me not only a viable developer , but also a leader who can get the best out of a team. I've collaborated with over 100+ developers as of now, in both open source and corporate, heard their stories, their ideas and visions to contribute , and worked with them, in multiple applications, for the betterment of the world.

Team code repositories

https://github.com/yaswanthramanam/DeWillFE,
https://github.com/yaswanthramanam/DeWillBE

Additional Information

Website [email protected] NA