Bitcoin Forum

I have set up my bitcoin core wallet already, I have downloaded the whole blockchain, and I think the wallet is now working fine but I need your advice.

I am using two other wallets, Coinbase and Atomic wallet, I have bitcoin on both wallets, I want to transfer the bitcoin from the two wallet to my bitcoin core. I read about seed phrase and private keys as a way to do this easily.

Please, do not see me as a fool and answer these questions:

1. I have tried to look for private keys on my coinbase wallet but I did not see any, please what happened? Or how can I get the private key?

2. Which one is better for the atomic wallet bitcoin export to bitcoin core wallet, should I use the private key or seed phrase? Please help me in a way I will see my bitcoin on bitcoin core wallet.

3. Can I import more than one private keys to bitcoin core wallet?

Coinbase Wallet is a deterministic custodial wallet meaning that you won't be able to get private keys for your addresses. You have to send your coins to a new wallet or the one for which you already have the keys.


Bitcoin Core does not support any kind of seed phrases. You can either import your private keys or generate a new wallet in Bitcoin Core and send the coins there.


Yes. Keep in mind that you will have to rescan your wallet every time you add a new private key. You can import multiple private keys before doing a rescan. The rescan time depends on your hardware. It can take a few minutes. Don't forget to make a new backup of the wallet file.

Or, did you meant coinbase is a custodial wallet, also can be regard as API key wallet.

Deterministic wallets are wallets that can use just one private key to generate as many as possible addresses. Unlike nondeterminstic wallet in which one private key generate only one address.

That's exactly what I meant. Thanks for pointing it out. I was quite sure there was something off about that sentence.

Oh! Thanks. That means coinbase wallet is not working the way proper wallets ought to work. I can not use this type of wallet again. But, what makes people using it when it has no private keys ?

I really understood what you said, I will try it now and check if it works.

Ease of use and ability to sell coins instantly. Software wallets usually require some technical knowledge and reading comprehension which many people lack. Most people are not aware that they are not in full control of their coins, though. Blockchain Wallet (https://www.blockchain.com/) is an alternative which gives users a backup seed, but there have been numerous complaints about missing or stolen funds. I wouldn't use it either.

When I opened atomic wallet, I have my private keys, there are many wallets like that too, bitcoin core is even like that and I prefer bitcoin core for I have the whole blockchain downloaded.

You are right, blockchain wallet should not be recommended, blockchain wallet still provide private keys though, but there is email required before using it. I can not use wallets that provide email, I will prefer only seed phrase. If the seed phrase is backup and safe from attackers and damages, it is the best way to go.

Note that Bitcoin Core does not provide seed phrases... the backup methodology for Bitcoin Core is to simply make (multiple) secure backups of your wallet.dat.


Just to make a small clarification... a deterministic wallet, uses a "master private key" derived from a seed, and then multiple child private keys are derived from that master (and then the addresses the for child keys are derived from that)... so the wallet still contains multiple private keys just like a non-deterministic wallet.

The difference, is that you can regenerate ALL the derived private keys in a deterministic manner by starting from the seed... with a non-deterministic wallet, the private keys are just randomly generated.

So, if I set all to false, all the private keys will be imported at ones till the last one is set as true. Thank you for this. Although, I imported only one private key, I later send my other bitcoin from coinbase, it has no private key, I did not know this before. But the whole transaction has been completed and successful. Thanks.