Inside LEVS: how we decide when to release your data

Storing encrypted data is, relatively speaking, the easy part. The genuinely hard problem in digital inheritance is deciding when to unlock it. Release too early and you've handed someone's private keys to the wrong person while they're still alive. Release too late and the entire point of the system is defeated.

This is the problem the Life-Event Verification System, or LEVS, exists to solve — not with a single signal, but three independent layers that have to agree.

Layer one: guardians

Every Reep user appoints 2 to 5 trusted contacts — guardians. When a possible life event occurs, these guardians must reach consensus before any transfer process begins. This is a deliberately human layer: people who know the user personally are far better at catching a false alarm than any algorithm.

Layer two: the heartbeat

For users who want a more automated safety net, Reep monitors regular check-ins — email, SMS, or app notification. Miss your check-in window (a 90-day default, fully configurable) and the system doesn't release anything on its own. It simply initiates the guardian verification sequence above. The heartbeat triggers a conversation between humans, not an automatic unlock.

Layer three: official records

For high-tier accounts, Reep can integrate with digital death registry APIs or require a verified death certificate, audited by a legal compliance partner. This layer exists for the cases that matter most — large estates, business continuity, situations where certainty isn't optional.

Why three layers, not one

Any single signal has a failure mode. Guardians alone are vulnerable to collusion or honest misjudgment. A heartbeat alone can't tell the difference between "deceased" and "on a long hiking trip with no signal." Official records alone are slow and don't cover every jurisdiction equally. Layered together, each one covers the others' blind spot.