Billions of ringgit sitting in “invisible” digital wallets could quietly become the next big pool of wealth that families never recover. And this is the part most people miss: if those funds are not clearly included in an estate plan, they can be just as “lost” as an abandoned bank account or a house stuck in a legal dispute.
Malaysia’s rapid shift toward cashless payments means more money than ever is being held in e-wallets and other digital platforms, with estimates putting this digital stash at around RM135 billion.
That sounds exciting for a modern, digital economy—but without proper planning, it also creates a serious risk that a large portion of this money may never reach the intended heirs.
The hidden threat of digital unclaimed assets
Arham Merican, chief executive officer and co-founder of Sampul.co, has raised the alarm that if Malaysians fail to include e-wallets, digital bank accounts, and similar holdings in their estate plans, these balances can effectively vanish from a family’s financial picture after death.
The issue mirrors Malaysia’s existing struggle with frozen and unclaimed assets, where large sums already sit idle because they are tied up in unresolved estates or never claimed at all.
At present, Malaysia reportedly has about RM13.3 billion in unclaimed funds and RM90 billion in frozen assets—money that technically belongs to individuals and families but cannot be accessed or used.
If that much is already stuck in limbo from traditional assets, imagine how much more could accumulate as people move more of their wealth into digital channels while still treating them casually, like “spending money” instead of real assets.
When loved ones can’t access digital money
Arham warns that if there is no clear plan in place, beneficiaries may simply be locked out of a deceased person’s digital holdings, including e-wallets and online accounts.
Unlike a physical wallet or a bank passbook, many digital assets leave no obvious trail—no one may even know they exist, let alone how to access them.
Digital wallets are now deeply woven into daily life in Malaysia, with platforms such as Touch ’n Go eWallet, Boost, GrabPay, ShopeePay, Maybank QRPay and BigPay widely used for transport, food delivery, online shopping and everyday payments.
Yet while users have eagerly adopted these platforms for convenience, their estate planning habits have not evolved at the same speed, leaving a dangerous gap between how people spend digitally and how they protect those digital balances for their heirs.
A massive drag on the wider economy
Economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng of Sunway University points out that the RM90 billion tied up as frozen assets—typically because estates have not been settled—amounts to almost 5 per cent of Malaysia’s 2024 GDP.
He describes this as productive capital that is essentially “locked away”, unable to support growth, innovation or community development.
If those frozen assets were released and channelled into productive areas such as small and medium enterprises, infrastructure projects or capital markets, he estimates they could add roughly 1.25 per cent to GDP growth, based on typical capital-output dynamics in developing economies.
In practical terms, that means more business activity, more jobs, higher household incomes and stronger consumer spending, all of which would also boost government tax revenues.
How frozen wealth weakens everyone
Dr Yeah further explains that long-running inheritance disputes and unresolved estates trap money that could otherwise circulate through the financial system.
This weakens the money multiplier effect—the process by which each ringgit, when actively used, generates additional rounds of spending and income—resulting in weaker growth and slower wealth creation.
When properties remain in legal limbo and bank balances sit unclaimed, they cannot be sold, reinvested or used to generate new income streams for families or businesses.
Beyond statistics and macroeconomic charts, this has a direct human cost: families may be unable to tap inherited funds for crucial needs such as children’s education, healthcare bills or starting a small business.
Inequality, mobility, and the human side
According to Dr Yeah, inheritance plays a vital role as an intergenerational transfer mechanism that helps preserve family wealth and support social mobility.
When families are unable to pass assets smoothly from one generation to the next, the result can be a widening of inequality between those who can unlock their wealth and those who cannot.
In other words, this is not just about “unclaimed money” in some government ledger—it can determine whether a family remains stuck financially or gains the opportunity to move up.
Digital assets, if neglected in estate planning, risk becoming yet another channel through which disadvantaged families lose out.
Why probate is so slow—and so painful
Arham highlights that Malaysia’s probate process—the legal process for administering a deceased person’s estate—is slow and heavily paper-based, typically taking between 12 and 24 months.
During this period, the deceased’s accounts, including in some cases joint accounts, may be frozen, preventing families from accessing funds when they often need them most.
Many Malaysians underestimate how complex and time-consuming this process can be until they experience a loss.
Missing beneficiary nominations, poorly drafted or incomplete wills, or the absence of estate planning tools such as Hibah structures can all add months or even years of delay.
Fragmented estate governance and bureaucratic friction
While Malaysia’s digital banking and payment ecosystem has modernised quickly, estate governance remains fragmented across institutions such as Amanah Raya, the civil courts and the Syariah courts.
Each of these bodies may have different procedures, requirements and timelines, creating a patchwork that is difficult for ordinary families to navigate.
The documentation burden can be heavy: asset verification, proof of ownership, debt settlement, Faraid (Islamic inheritance) calculations, and various court certifications often need to be prepared and approved.
Every one of these steps introduces potential bottlenecks, especially when case backlogs and limited administrative capacity are factored in.
Time, cost, and emotional strain
On top of that, court congestion, low public awareness of estate processes, and reliance on intermediaries such as lawyers and trustees can all add more time and cost.
The longer the process drags on, the greater the emotional and financial strain on families already dealing with grief.
Even relatively simple probate cases can take between six and twelve months to resolve under current conditions.
More complicated estates, particularly those involving multiple properties, business interests or cross-border assets, may remain frozen for two years or more, locking up substantial wealth.
Legal freezes and digital-era complications
Financial institutions are legally required to freeze a customer’s accounts as soon as they are formally notified of the person’s death.
From that point, no transfers or withdrawals can legally take place until the appropriate legal documents—such as a Grant of Probate or a Letter of Administration—are issued by the courts.
Arham cautions that this problem is not limited to traditional bank accounts.
Assets stored in digital banks, e-wallets and even cryptocurrency wallets face a similar fate if ownership details are unclear, access credentials are unknown, or the holdings are not linked to a clear estate plan.
Are e-wallets the next big unclaimed pool?
This is where the issue becomes genuinely controversial: many people still treat e-wallets like loose change rather than real financial assets that should be documented and protected.
Yet with estimated balances now collectively in the hundreds of billions of ringgit, ignoring them in wills or estate strategies may be creating the largest wave of “invisible” unclaimed assets Malaysia has ever seen.
Unlike a house or a car, there is often no physical clue that an e-wallet exists—no title deed, no vehicle registration, sometimes not even printed statements.
If no one knows which apps were used, what email addresses were registered, or how accounts were secured, the practical reality is that the money might as well not exist for the family left behind.
What needs to change—and who should act?
Arham argues that tackling this challenge will require closer collaboration among financial planners, licensed trustees and technology platforms.
The goal is to build systems where digital assets—from e-wallets to online investment apps and crypto wallets—are seamlessly integrated into holistic estate plans.
He notes that Sampul.co, a startup supported by Cradle, aims to contribute to this by helping create a trusted ecosystem for comprehensive estate planning that explicitly includes digital holdings.
In practice, this could mean tools that allow people to document all their digital assets in one place, define beneficiaries clearly and ensure that, when the time comes, those beneficiaries can actually gain access.
The bold questions no one wants to ask
Here’s where it gets uncomfortable: should digital platforms themselves be required to proactively support estate access, or does the full responsibility rest on users to plan ahead?
And if billions are left unclaimed in e-wallets, who ultimately benefits from that money—the state, the platforms, or no one in any meaningful sense?
Some might argue that if people fail to plan, the consequences are their own fault.
Others will insist that in a world where financial services are pushing users toward digital adoption, providers and regulators have a moral duty to make inheritance and next-of-kin access far simpler and more transparent.
What do you think?
Should e-wallets and digital banks be legally required to build clear inheritance and nominee features into their platforms, just like traditional banks?
Or do you feel it’s entirely on individuals to keep track of every app, account and coin they own and put it all into a formal estate plan?
Share your thoughts—do you agree with the warnings about a looming digital unclaimed-asset crisis, or do you think the risk is being exaggerated?
