Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Electrum => Topic started by: Dels on September 20, 2016, 08:13:15 AM



Title: how to import a private key in Electrum?
Post by: Dels on September 20, 2016, 08:13:15 AM
Hello,

My friends give at me a papper wallet with bitcoin, i want to send this bitcoin on my electrum
Wallet (Imac).

How i male that ?


Title: Re: how to import a private key in Electrum?
Post by: Abdussamad on September 20, 2016, 08:57:53 AM
You can sweep the private key which is better than importing it. Here's how to do that:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-sweep-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

If you want the private key to become a part of your wallet then you have to import it. I don't recommend this but if you really want to do it then it can be done by creating a new wallet:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-import-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients


Title: Re: how to import a private key in Electrum?
Post by: NorrisK on September 21, 2016, 07:05:58 AM
The reason Abdussamad doesn't recommend the private key to be part of your excisting wallet is that it does not become part of your seed. If you ever restore your wallet, you don't restore the private key of the wallet you added later.

Best thing to do is to create a new wallet with the private key on the paper wallet and send the coins from that wallet to whereever you want to use it, so it becomes restorable using the seed of that wallet.


Title: Re: how to import a private key in Electrum?
Post by: Abdussamad on September 21, 2016, 07:26:30 AM
Best thing to do is to create a new wallet with the private key on the paper wallet and send the coins from that wallet to whereever you want to use it, so it becomes restorable using the seed of that wallet.

Sweeping accomplishes the same thing in less steps. That's why I first talk about sweeping the private key in my post above.