Your bitcoin will still be secured by the same keys, and Fortis Bank remains the IRA custodian.
Tip: For information about recovering non-IRA, personal, or business accounts if Unchained goes out of business, see our Caravan guide.
If Unchained goes out of business, you can transfer your IRA to another provider.
As an IRA client, it’s important to remember that you can process an IRA-to-IRA transfer to another provider at any time. So if you ever develop concerns about Unchained going out of business, you can always send your IRA funds to another custodian.
In the unlikely event that Unchained does go out of business, we would offer clients a wind-down period, allowing you to transfer your IRA before we shut down our services.
If Unchained were to shut down immediately due to unforeseen circumstances and no-wind down period were offered, your IRA account would still be kept active by Fortis Bank, and your IRA would remain in good standing with the IRS. In that scenario, you would work directly with Fortis Bank to figure out a longer-term solution for your IRA funds, using Caravan as a recovery tool.
If Fortis goes out of business, we will find a new IRA custodian to manage your IRA.
Fortis Bank is supervised by the FDIC and the Colorado Division of Banking ("CDOB"). Even in the worst of scenarios, Fortis Bank would be subject to an orderly wind-down process supervised by the FDIC and the CDOB and could not disappear overnight.
Such supervised wind-downs are typically very slow. During such time, Unchained would obtain a new IRA custodian partner to transfer existing Unchained IRAs. You could also roll over or take an IRA distribution of your funds out of the Unchained IRA altogether if you chose during the wind-down period. You’d want to talk to your tax advisor about the best course of action in that scenario.
While Fortis Bank is the IRA custodian of all Unchained IRAs, any bitcoin held in an Unchained IRA is not a bank deposit and therefore is not subject to the bank’s creditors.
Note: No IRAs or other Unchained accounts are covered by FDIC insurance.
You can use Caravan in an emergency.
As stated above, in a scenario where Unchained suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth, you would contact Fortis Bank directly for the next steps on accessing your IRA funds.
You may have to sign a transaction using Caravan in this unlikely scenario. As such, you must download your IRA vault’s wallet configuration file, as you cannot recover your vault externally without it. Follow our guide on how to use Caravan to use your vault outside of Unchained.com.
Warning: Caravan should only be used in an emergency situation. Depositing to your vault or withdrawing using Caravan can have severe negative tax and reporting consequences. Transactions will be observed during the routine monitoring applied to all IRA vaults and automatically reported to the IRS.
During regular business operations, contact us if you need to transact from your IRA vault.
Note: The contents of this post are educational in nature and may not be relied upon as tax, legal, or financial advice, as they have not been tailored to you and have not been reviewed by any attorney, financial advisor, or tax professional. For any questions about your specific situation, please consult with your attorney, tax professional, and/or licensed financial advisor.