Bitcoin Forum

Hi Guys,

I could really use some help trying to recover some bitcoins my father accidentally sent to his Bitcoin Wallet's local default sending address.

Are the bitcoins lost? or is it possible to recover them somehow? When checking on blockchain.info, the funds are visible but I have no idea how to recover them into the Bitcoin-Qt wallet. When referring to "sending address", there are receiving and sending address in the Bitcoin-Qt client, it has one address (you can have multiple) but this was the address he sent the funds to.

I thought it would be visible after his Bitcoin-Qt wallet synchronized but no luck. Unfortunately, the bitcoins did not come back to his wallet. This was done 2 days ago. If I look up the same address on blockchain, the exact amount is just sitting there.

Thanks,
Brad

Sounds like the coins were sent to an external address that you have sent to before.  Try figuring out who owns that sending address and ask them for the money back.  Otherwise you probably won't see those coins again.

There is absolutely no difference between a sending and receiving address, they are all the same. (It still confounds me as to why the core devs still label the addresses that way since it causes a lot of confusion.) The bitcoin should still be in his wallet, and the balance should update, the only difference will be the transaction fee, so the Bitcoin should still be sendable. Can you give us the address and post a screenshot of his Bitcoin Core? And what OS and version of Bitcoin Core is he running?

If I recall correctly, in Bitcoin Core, the "Sending Address" list is the list of other people's receiving addresses that your wallet has sent bitcoins to in the past. The "Receiving Addresses" are the addresses that you have generated in your wallet that you can give to people so that they can send bitcoins to you.

If you send to an address that came from your father's "Sending Address" list, then you sent bitcoins to someone that your father has sent bitcoins to in the past.  He will need to remember who that person or company is, then you'll need to contact that person (or company) and explain your mistake to them.  Hopefully they will be honest and honorable and return the bitcoins to you.  There is no way to "take" them back.  You'll need to convince them to send the bitcoins to you.

There are "Sending Addresses" what should better be called Address book, because thats what it is. Its where all addresses are stored you at least once send coins to.
There are "Receiving Addresses" what should better be called "your addresses" or something along those lines.

https://i.imgur.com/4gsxogl.png


There is no "default sending address". The first entry is the first address your father has ever send bitcoins to. That might have been you or someone you know, to test how it works maybe. You need to figure out who that address belongs to.

Really?! I didn't know that. I thought that both lists were for the addresses in your wallet. I guess they need better labeling.

OP, in that case, then you need to figure out who owns that address and kindly ask them for the Bitcoin back. If they are a trustworthy and honorable person, then they will return you the money. However, if it was a service, some services will delete old deposit addresses (since they intend for those addresses to be used only once) so the Bitcoin will be lost. Although if it is a service, it doesn't hurt to contact them and see if they can still send you back the Bitcoin.