Bitcoin Forum

So i have just ordered a Ledger Nano S, i just want to get some answers on a few questions.

1. If i lose my Ledger nano S(the device), is the coins lost forever?

2. What happens if Ledger goes out of buisness?

3. Can i accidentally lose my coins? For example resetting the Ledger?

4. If i move my coins before the 3rd hardfork, do i still get segwitx2 coins?

5. Can i use the link below to seperate Bitcoin from Bitcoin Cash?
https://coinsutra.com/bitcoin-cash-ledger-wallet/

6. i have for example Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash on the same ledger do i have two different passphrases? Is it better to buy two Ledger instead?

7. Can i "test" my passphrase?

https://ledger.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005161445-What-if-I-lose-my-Ledger-Wallet-
When you install your Ledger, you receive a seed of 24 words. These you have to write down and save very good.
If saved, you can use the same seed in another Ledger or another wallet using the same seeds (there are several wallets available).

So:
1. If you have your seed no problem.
2. If you have your seed no problem
3. If you have your seed no problem
4. If you have bitcoins on a wallet from which you have the private key, you will have coins on both chains. If you have them on an exchange wallet it depends on the exchange.
5. I prefer the information on the site of ledger itself: https://www.ledger.fr/2017/07/31/managing-the-bitcoin-cash-fork/
6. Ledger can have both, no problem. Second ledger can be handy if you want to, but it's not necessary.
7. Yes, why not?

Nope, if you have the seed written up from the time when you did setup the nano S.


Then it is broken. You will be able to access the funds with the seed that you generated.


You cannot lose your coins unless you lose the ledger nano s and the seed which you have written upon the setup.


I do  not think so. Im not sure but usually on hard forks you have to have coins on the address before getting any fork coins.


It looks about right to me.


No need for that. Nano S should allow you to store quite many cryptocurrencies on the same hardware wallet.


If you are talking about bruteforcing ledger pin code, you can check out from passwordmeter.com (http://www.passwordmeter.com).

If you enter the wrong pin code 3 times in a row, the device will reinitialize, so bruteforcing the pin is not really possible.

I don't know of a way as to test your pass phrase, apart from reinitializing it the device using your passphrase and see if everything is still there. That's what I did: I loaded some small amount on the wallet, reset it, and reseed it using my passphrase, and sure enough everything was still there  ;)

You don't even need to send any funds... Just note down the addresses that have been generated... Then re-initialise the device (wrong PIN 3 times), select the "X" symbol when asked if you want to configure as a new device... Enter your seed (NOTE: This takes a LONG time)... After that's done, double check that the addresses being generated are the same... If so, you have it all correct. :)

Thank you so much for the answers!

Just recieved my Ledger.

Two more question.

I have my bitcoins in a wallet.dat file(using bitcoin core). Can i first send my bitcoins to Ledger and then claim my Bch(my private key is the same?)or do i need to claim my Bch before sending my coins to Ledger.

Can i claim Bch in pieces?
Lets say i move 0.5Btc to Ledger and claim 0.5Bch and then repeat that step?

The best thing is to first send the BTC to Ledger, and then claim BCH. Why? Because you have to use your private key to claim the BCH.

So, yes it is possible to claim in pieces, but because of this security risk I suggest to first send all BTC and then claim all BCH.
When you claim your BCH with your private key, also send them immediately to another wallet (or if you prefer to sell it, to an exchange), again because of the same risk.

What if i want to claim like 50% of my Bch, Ledger has a specific wallet for Bch, isn't that safe?

What if i send my Btc to two different Ledgers, do i get two private keys?

When you use two different seeds, you have two private keys.

You can't send your BCH from bitcoin core, you need to use the private key with a bitcoin cash wallet. That's why I suggest you to claim all BCH ASAP, but you can send them to different wallets ofcourse.

To be on the safe side you should follow the steps already posted. FIRST send your bitcoins to your ledger. After this Step you already secured your BTC.
From now on you "only" risk your BCH when importing your private keys into a different software. But if you use a reputable wallet, nothing should happen.

Your ledger is a HD (hierarchical deterministic) wallet. This means your wallet creates addresses (private/public key pair) based on your seed and a variable/counter (to put it simply).
So every ledger wallet is holding multiple adresses.
You can get a second ledger and initialize it with either (1) the same seed as your first ledger or (2) with a new seed.

I think you have misunderstood what i meant.


This is the step i want to take.

Version 1.

1. send half of my Bitcoins to Ledger from Bitcoin Core wallet

2. Split/claim my Bitcoin Cash(half of them) like in the link(i want to split my Bch in my ledger, i am not gonna use another wallet)

https://coinsutra.com/bitcoin-cash-ledger-wallet/

3. move some of my Bitcoin cash to an exhange

4. Leave both Bitcoins and Bitcoin Cash in my Ledger

5. Buy another Ledger

6. Move the rest of my Bitcoins + Litecoins and Vertcoins to Ledger number 2

Version 2

1. send all of my Bitcoins to Ledger from Bitcoin Core wallet

2. Split/claim my Bitcoin Cash like in the link(i want to split my Bch in my ledger, i am not gonna use another wallet)

https://coinsutra.com/bitcoin-cash-ledger-wallet/

3. move some of my Bitcoin cash to an exhange

4. Leave both Bitcoins and Bitcoin Cash in my Ledger

5. Buy another Ledger

6. Send half of my Bitcoins, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Vertcoins to Ledger number 2


Can i do it like this?

First:
You can only claim your bitcoin cash using the private key of the wallet you used on August 1.

So only if you're able to get the original private key on your Ledger, the link you provided will help you. In all other cases you have to use a workaround: you have to import the private key into another wallet, and then send the BCH to either your Ledger or the exchange (or both).

AFAIK Ledger does work with another seed, but is not able to import a single private key. So if your current wallet has a seed, you're fine, but otherwise: you need to use another wallet to send them to your Ledger.


So before we can answer your question, the first thing you/we need to know if you can export the seeds from your current wallet or not.

Before August 1 i used Bitcoin core wallet, i have a wallet.dat that is encrypted. i don't have a seed(if you mean words for a password)

Unfortunately not.
Step 1 is clear, you can send all or part of your bitcoins to your Ledger wallet.
Advice: send all of them; ofcourse when you have 2 Ledger wallets, or you want to split it in several parts, no problem, but due to the fact that you need the private key for the BCH claim, it's safest to send them all from your wallet, so that nothing is left behind in case of abuse of your private key.

Step 2: You can claim your BCH using your private key, only NOT by using your Ledger. Ledger can't import private keys, so you have to work around that. Examples: you can use Electron Cash or Coinomi wallet to import the private key. Then send your Bitcoin Cash from this wallet to either your Ledger, an exchange or whatever you prefer.

Step 3: you can already do this in step 2.
Step 4: no problem
Step 5: no problem
Step 6: no problem.

To add:
If you had your bitcoins in your Ledger wallet on August 1, then you could have used the info in your link. But not in this case.

I think i understand now,

My Bitcoin Cash is "inside" my private key? They are still there if i move my Bitcoins and get a new private key for just Bitcoin?

If this is correct then i don't even need to claim my Bitcoin Cash now, if i save my private key i can claim them in a year if i want? Same goes for Bitcoin Gold? i can claim them with just my current private key when it goes live?

I thought my current private key was useless if i moved my bitcoins to Ledger and got a new key.

So then i just send my Bitcoins to Ledger and use the link below to claim my Bitcoin Cash


https://techhelpkb.com/claim-bitcoin-cash-from-bitcoin-core-to-an-spv-wallet/?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=bc2spv

Yes, that's correct on all counts.

Perfect!

just two things i need to check with you.

1. I can send my Bitcoins and after i have sent them, i can claim my Bitcoin Cash/private key? My private key is not connected to my Bitcoins but my wallet.dat file right?

2. If i remove my Bitcoin app on Ledger, and then reinstall it, everything is there right(with same adresses and private key)? And the same goes for every app/coin that Ledger supports?

I'll answer your questions because i came by them.


Yes you can, like mentioned earlier, you need the private key for claiming them. Your private key is connected to your bitcoins and bitcoin cash, but they are on seperate chains now so sending funds on other chain won't affect the other.


If you mean removing the application from your computer, yes. The seed on hardware wallets is stored on the hardware wallet and not the computer.
You'll save every private key, unless you wipe the hardware wallet but it's highly unlikely because there are many warnings before being able to do that.

1.
Good, i will get my private key from the link i posted earlier. But before that i send my Bitcoins to Ledger.

2. Thank you!

3. I see now that they have Bitcoin Gold app, can i claim them same way as Bitcoin Cash?

Pretty much... The only difference is that BTG was forked around Oct 24th (depending on your timezone)... specifically it occurred at 2017-10-24 01:20:39 UTC... block #491407... so, you need to use the private keys that held BTC as of block #491406. If you made any BTC transactions (send OR receive) AFTER Aug 1st and BEFORE block #491407, then your total amount of BTG will likely be different to the total amount of BCH... and quite possibly on different keys.

In any case, if you move ALL you BTC now to your Ledger, you can simply import ALL you keys from the Bitcoin Core wallet.dat into both a BCH and a BTG wallet and you will be able to get your BCH and BTG.



Just to clarify, as I think omnz423 didn't quite understand this correctly (As you were not asking about removing the app from the computer, you were asking about removing the app from the Ledger itself)... Yes, you can remove the Bitcoin "app" from your Ledger (or any of the other apps like BitcoinCash, Doge, LTC, Bitcoin Gold etc) and then reinstall it later and you won't lose anything. All the apps generate their wallets from the one seed (backed up by your 24 word seed mnemonic)... that seed is NEVER removed unless the device is wiped/reset (wrong PIN 3 times or manual reset etc).

Yes - but: there are is only one exchange at this time where you can move the funds in case you want to sell it. It is a small exchange and I don't know how reliable it is, so you may be better off waiting until more exchanges are able to receive funds. All other exchanges which has bitcoin gold in it, haven't yet wallets to receive bitcoin gold from the outside.

Aside from HitBTC, there is also "changelly.com"... nice little insta-sell if you don't mind the rates.

Bittrex has added Bitcoin Gold now.

I will use this link, it's semms safe, i can use Coinomi to claim my Bitcoin Gold

https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000013719-how-to-get-bitcoin-cash-from-many-wallet-software-services-with-coinomi

Question: I have several ERC20 tokens, currently hold in Coinomi mobile wallet.
I want to transfer them to Ledger - is there a way to scan/replicate/teleport/sweep my funds from Coinomi to Ledger OTHER than simply send tokens?
I'm asking, cause transfer fees for ERC20 are awfully expensive comparing to other coins...

PS. is it safe to bond Ledger with MyEtherWallet? I'm not a big fan of online wallets...

You can, but not "safely"...

That is to say, you could always try restoring your Coinomi seed into the Ledger... which should theoretically clone the Coinomi wallet. But that would totally defeat the entire purpose of having the Ledger (ie. your seed/private keys have NEVER been "outside" the Ledger).

The only truly safe way is to simply send the tokens to the wallet(s) on your Ledger (that was initialised with a seed in a "safe" manner, ie. inbuilt initialisation, or restored using a seed generated offline with dice etc).


Ledger and MEW is a safe combination. The private keys/seed cannot be accessed from outside the Ledger. The worse that could happen is that MEW could leak your "public" keys and/or addresses and compromise your privacy.

[1]
Yeah, I didn't want to restore my Coinomi wallet to Ledger, but rather "sweep paper wallet" for only one coin.
But I got it, the best way in terms of security is to transfer them. Thanks.

[2]
But is leaking public keys a danger to my funds? I mean, by having access to my public keys is anyone able to "touch" my coins or tokens?

Thank you very much for help!

As HCP already mentioned, it is only a possible compromise to your privacy. If someone knows your public key/address, they can see how much you have. That's it. They can't touch it.

"Sweeping" means to send all funds from one wallet (e.g. paper wallet) to another wallet (the one you are speewing it into).
Most wallet softwares let you "sweep" your funds. But what basically happens is they import the private keys, sign and broadcast a transaction with all funds being sent
to an address generated by the wallet software itself.




No. Just your privacy is 'at risk'. Security-wise everything is fine.

Thank you all! Sorry for bothering, but this is all still new stuff to me. I've started trading/buying/learning like 2 weeks ago, so please forgive me if I will ask stupid questions (stupid for old users), as my time for learning is strictly limited (2 little kids, just to say).

Anyway, these answers fully satisfies me, as I really have no issues with revealing, how much I have (not much ;) for now, so...).
If the security is not compromised here, I'm all good.

And I was thinking, that "sweeping" is some magical :D way to teleport my funds.
Apparently, that is not the case ;)

Yeah... I'm not sure where the term "sweeping" originated, but I can see that it can be a bit misleading for new users. I know, when I first started out, that I too thought that "sweeping" was some special action for moving coins from one wallet to another.

After an afternoon of digging, I discovered that it was simply a "short cut" method of "importing private keys->create transaction->send transaction". Rather, you just enter a bunch of private keys and the wallet will go find all the coins and send them somewhere... usually to itself, but some wallets allow you to sweep to arbitrary addresses.

So, I guess the important distinction between sweeping and importing is that sweeping creates a transaction using your private keys and sends coins to a new address but the keys are then forgotten, whereas importing actually imports the private keys (or seed) into your wallet and acquires the coins that way.

Sweeping is generally deemed safer, as the "exposed" private keys are generally "forgotten" and not used again, minimising the chance of coin loss via your keys having been compromised... whereas, with an import, keyloggers/memory-clipboard scanners/screengrabbers etc have the opportunity to work their mischief if your coins are still sitting on the same keys you've just typed or copy/pasted etc.