Bitcoin Forum

Hello. I made a really big mistake today. I transferred funds from my blockchain wallet to my electrum wallet. I had done a practice transfer yesterday with a small amount of money, and everything worked perfectly. So I assumed I'd be able to just copy and paste the wallet address and send the money like normal.

I was really wrong though. I'm not totally sure why, but the money just never showed up. So now I'm out hundreds of dollars that I really desperately needed. I'm so defeated and disappointed right now I can barely bring myself to even bother with any of this.

I was reading something about wallet synchronization, and I'm not sure if that could be the problem. It says that my wallet is not fully synchronized (it has said "synchronizing...3/30" basically since I opened it today with no improvement). Could that have anything to do with it? Is there a way to get the wallet fully synchronized? It's just stuck on 3/30 indefinitely.

Can someone tell me what happened so it doesn't happen again? I hate bitcoins for this exact reason. Something goes wrong...and your money is just fn gone forever. The transaction is on blockchain...so I'm just really not sure what happened. But I'm thinking from now on I'm going to do small transfers in pieces and just move a little bit of money at a time. Losing hundreds of dollars that I couldn't afford to spend in the first place really hurts, and is going to affect my life for the immediate future. I just can't even tell you the effect that losing hundreds of dollars in one shot like that has for a person like me with very little in the first place. 

My wallet address expired 1 hour after the transaction. So it's now expired. Does that have an impact on whether or not my money could ever (even theoretically) get to my wallet?

Most importantly, is there anyone you can go to in a situation like this? Like blockchain or the electrum people? I'm pretty sure I'll never see this money...but I'd like to make sure this never happens again. To be honest this has sorta put me off bitcoin generally...and that sucks because bitcoins are necessary for lots of different types of online transactions.

I am having a feeling that nothing wrong happened in your case since you are saying your wallet has not synchronized yet.


Can you share some information?

1. What version of Electrum you are using?
2. Are you okay to share the tx ID of the transfer?

My wild guess is that you are using an old version of Electrum.

No, it doesn't. You would still get your funds.

Assuming that you're using an updated version of Electrum, you can try and connect to another server. Click on the green/red button on the bottom right, find another server, right-click it and select "Use as server" then see if that helps.

If this is just a syncronization issue, you can check and confirm your funds on blockchain explorer, searching the address you used to received, if there's no outgoing transaction then your funds is still there and you only need to wait untill the syncing's complete, but most probably it doesn't take that long.

If the transaction has been sent from your Blockchain wallet, then there is nothing they can do to help - once the transaction is confirmed, it is irreversible.

First of all, check the transaction on a block explorer such as https://blockchair.com/. Does the address the coins have been sent to match the address from your Electrum wallet? If the address is correct, and blockchair shows the funds on that address, then your funds are safe and the problem is simply with your Electrum client not syncing properly. Don't panic. Try the following steps:

Make sure you are using the latest version of Electrum from https://electrum.org/#download, and that you verified it before installing. Older versions will not sync.
Switch to a different server by following the instructions above from OmegaStarScream.
Try disabling the proxy if one is enabled (Red/Green orb -> Proxy tab)
Check Electrum isn't being blocked by your firewall or VPN if you are using one.

I am still using the older version and it sync fine.

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@OP can you update us after following the instruction given by the earlier replies?  If you really made a transaction, it should appear on the blockchain, better check if the address you pasted is the same as the address you intended to copy. If there is noting wrong with the receiving address then you will receive the transfer but if it is different then, possibly you are a victim of a malware and sad to say your BTC transfer goes to other wallet.

Providing us with the bitcoin address might help us identify any issues like how many confirmations, and whether there was a small fee included, although like others are suggesting it sounds like a sync issue, and you're not completely out of luck. Especially, if you're certain you copy, and pasted the correct address.

However, if you don't want to share the Bitcoin address for privacy reasons, then you can follow the instructions of updating your client, and connecting to a new server. Report back to us with your findings.

I think there's no need to update his client as he has downloaded the client recently, it's the latest. He also has mentioned about the new option on the latest version, address expiration (which is pretty misleading to the newbies, sometimes olders too). That's not the issue I think.

Isn't just me that the OP might have been fallen to a copy and paste malware?

Clipboard Hijacker Malware Monitors 2.3 Million Bitcoin Addresses (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/clipboard-hijacker-malware-monitors-23-million-bitcoin-addresses/)

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How to lose your Bitcoins with CTRL-C CTRL-V (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5190776.0)

Adding this
If the solution above after installing the latest version still syncing there is a possibility that your firewall/antivirus is blocking the Electrum from connecting to any online server or your DNS maybe the issue.

Try to turn off your firewall and antivirus if it will work, if not and it still stuck on syncing try to change your DNS you can use these two DNS below.


Choose any of these Google or Cloudflare DNS.

After you setup reopen the Electrum and check the status if it still sycing(Must be the latest version).

It's too early to say.

The first and the most obvious explanation is the wallet update. If he sent a new transaction to the wallet and the wallet is not updated or not connected to a node the transaction will not appear and he will not see the right balance.

Once it's fully updated and the wallet is connected to a node (green light in the right lower corner) we can start looking for other problems.

Waiting for the reply of the OP here. Because I read also similar situation here in the forum about not seeing their money in electrum after transfer and he was panicking as well. But after few hours he saw his funds in his wallet. So yes, if it is only synchronization issue, his funds should still be there. And he said, he tried small amount at first and went thru. So let's see...

I can't agree with you. Please check the transactions. If you have been transfer to other wallets.l think your fund is still yet & you will be get it.l think so.

I think its all happen because you might used old version.
You can check trx add if it is only synchronized issue. You can also contact blockchain server member.hope you will find best answer there .
I had also lose 40$ by putting  wrong address. And regret there is no solution to cashback.

The malware has been exist since 2016 , that's where my case (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1531012.msg15409543#msg15409543) occured.

I never knew why i sent bitcoins to that address , everything seems just fine ( i didn't double check it tho) but when i see in the transaction history .. the coins was sent to unknown address which surprised me and i realized that time it's just gone and nothing i can do.
Few days later i found there's malware in my computer that i thought i deleted them but everytime i turn on my computer the same malware notification popping up and so on... I've tried everything by reinstall the whole system but still the malware is there until i decided to just burn the whole cpu due my frustration level has reached its highest.

But it's not the case here i think, i just bring some awareness about this malware tho.
Since op has confirmed he is seeing the confirmation stuck at 3/30 which he do confirm everything is just fine with the desrunatiin address .
Could be just synchronization problem , as the tx id has been confirmed.
I'd suggest to do what bitmaxz suggested to change the DNS.

Newbies should use simpler wallets than electrum. There are a lot of great alternatives

Simpler? What are simpler wallets than Electrum? Please help me with your list of simpler wallets.

In crypto, safety and control of private keys/ mnemonic seed are the most important factors when you choose a wallet to use. No one need to use a simpler wallet but you don't own private keys or mnemonic seed of that wallet.

Non-custodial wallets are better than custodial wallets.

Not your keys, not your bitcoin.

You can try asking for help on https://reddit.com/r/electrum. The devs are usually active on there.

Having this in mind, I have two versions of wallets.
-One never gone online which has the coins I rarely use, it's just a cold wallet.
- And the other version is in the online device which I use for day to day needs.

Even with the antivirus installed in your system, you still do not know what programs are running behind and which one is harmful to you. I have never been in this kind of situation yet don't wish to fall to it too. We all need to pay serious attention of the security of handling cryptocurrency. Most of the time the mistake happens because the user forget to double-check the address.

Usually my limit of sending merit to a post is 5 but in your case I thought to send out more just to help you out and with this hope that you make posts like this very often.

@leeboy, mind mentioning some wallets that you think is simpler than electrum? I doubt there are any except some custodial wallet which comes with obvious cost.

What, why did it happen like that.

Thank you for your help in merit and kind words, Royse777. I will never forget this batch.

I am not proud of myself but I always try to make good posts. Mine are not as high as Legendary like you and others but sure I don't make shitposts.

Copy-pasting a wallet address is actually what most of us would do to avoid mistakes in sending BTC to a wallet. I do;t think there is going to be a problem with that if you are sure that is the wallet to send to. Its synchronizing wallets that are going to be an issue.  This is like downloading a blockchain on your computer which could take time. This is why I hate wallets that need syncing because of its time-wasting. Its a safe wallet but time wasting. You won't be even sending it again until you synchronize it again.

Its good for holders but if you keep making transactions every other day and you need to quickly do it to race against time because you wanted to buy a token, you'd miss a lot of things right when its synching.

Let's wait for OP to just at least respond to this. Easiest way to get some reassurance for now is just to look up the receiving address on blockchain explorer like Blockchair. It will show if there's a balance and if the incoming transaction is confirmed!

Versions older than 3.3.0 do not sync.

Request expiration has been in Electrum since version 2.1, which was released in 2015.

Copy and pasting without double checking is one of the most common ways in which people lose their coins - to clipboard malware.

It Seems OP disappeared after made this post. There is a couple of question above made by other users that need an answer to get to give an appropriate solution. A few suggestions have been given on above replies, I can say that you may stay fearless if your wallet address is correct on the block explorer and if you are holding the seed of your Electrum wallet. Your money wouldn't go then. Since it was synchronized before yesterday means it should work today as well. Assuming you are using the latest version of the original software. You need to make sure your internet speed is enough to synchronize the wallet. Please help by giving more details to spot the problem.

It is widely believed that the Electrum is the simplest BTC wallet and so it was until version 3.3.8, and after that even some more experienced users were a bit confused with some of the options. If you claim that something is simplest, then why did the same wallet couse you basic problems - how to send coins and adjust fee?


From the perspective of a complete beginner, Electrum is a nightmare, probably like most desktop/mobile wallets - so most use online wallets no matter how unsafe they are.

most all antivirus programs look for malware based on signatures of the virus once its out in the wild (many employ other algorithms too of course) . once its been analyzed and verified its bad they will add its signature to the database. so its pretty easy to write something from scratch that no AV program has a signature for yet.

so dont rely on just AV, you can still get burned hard. reasearch the wallet you use before using it, even if its just an update. 10 minutes with your favorite search engine can save much grief (and coins). and make sure to verify the download with the verification hashes given by the project/dev.

If only to use Electrum to receive and send bitcoin, it is simple.

Without care of change address, fee, wallet verification, fee estimation (Choose ETA or mempool), Replace by fee, Child pay for parent, Electrum is simple to use. I don't know what wallet is the simpliest wallet.

I agree the version 4.0.2 is different and can cause troubles for me if I am familiar with old versions. Newbies, do they have to start from empty mind? No familiarity with old version, begin with empty mind and experience the version 4.0.2. I think it is not bad for them.

How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.msg54223763#msg54223763)

So let’s say Ledger Live is also a very simple wallet for those using Nano S/X, maybe even simpler than Electrum. However, I would not agree that newbies will find it easier to catch the strings because, as you say, they are "empty mind" in that sense - because you have a lot of examples where beginners have very basic problems with the first use of Electrum, and here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5281026.0) is just one fresh example.

The user-friendly interface has definitely become less friendly after version 4.0.0, but it is something that experienced and inexperienced users have to adapt to.