Bitcoin Forum

Other => Meta => Topic started by: Ticketz on April 18, 2021, 08:27:28 PM



Title: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: Ticketz on April 18, 2021, 08:27:28 PM
Hi guys,

my account was stolen a while ago and I wasn't very active on this forum. I can't remember the email address, but I can prove ownership of an ETH address from summer 2017. I saw Theymos' thread: 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5089777.0

How do I go about it with an ETH address? Is that also sufficient? Can I just use MyEtherWallet and create a message similar to the one Theymos asks for when it comes to proving ownership for BTC addresses?


Thanks and best regards!
Ticketz


Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: mole0815 on April 18, 2021, 09:02:29 PM
Please write with as much information as possible to the given mail address.
After that the recovery team will contact you regarding the next steps :)


Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: suzanne5223 on April 18, 2021, 09:17:39 PM
In addition to what was said earlier, you have to provide more insight (username etc) information about the account and click this link to see the guide you need to create a signed message (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5316078.msg56312170#msg56312170) using the ETH wallet address you once used on the account but I will advise you archive the link to prevent data loss.


Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: logfiles on April 18, 2021, 10:21:53 PM
Check the bolded parts

If your account was hacked

Email recoveries_2021_xxlgg@bitcointalk.org, ideally from the account's email address. Include your username and a brief description of the details of how/when the account was hacked. A signature will likely be required (see below).
The account's original email address might even be a much more important necessity. What happened to your email address?
Try your luck anyway.


Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: Rikafip on April 19, 2021, 05:55:04 AM

How do I go about it with an ETH address? Is that also sufficient? Can I just use MyEtherWallet and create a message similar to the one Theymos asks for when it comes to proving ownership for BTC addresses?

Unfortunately for OP (and ss far as I know)  signing ETH address is not accepted method of proving the account ownership, and only signed BTC address is accepted, as mentioned by theymos in Recovering hacked/lost accounts  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5089777.0). If ETH address is accepted it would be mentioned there.

Looks like that there are some issues with that, as explained by @pooya87

it is not just about this being a "Bitcoin forum", the problem is the lack of a trusted wallet to do the signing and verifying of signatures and also whether the person verifying has that wallet installed. otherwise the processes are the same. bitcoin uses secp256k1 curve while ethereum uses secp256r1 curve with only different constants but same size signature and same EC calculations.



Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: lovesmayfamilis on April 19, 2021, 07:17:48 AM

How do I go about it with an ETH address? Is that also sufficient? Can I just use MyEtherWallet and create a message similar to the one Theymos asks for when it comes to proving ownership for BTC addresses?

Unfortunately for OP (and ss far as I know)  signing ETH address is not accepted method of proving the account ownership, and only signed BTC address is accepted, as mentioned by theymos in Recovering hacked/lost accounts  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5089777.0). If ETH address is accepted it would be mentioned there.


I remember a case of recovering a hacked account as recently as October 2020.
The stolen account was recovered using a signed ETH address. There is even a manual or description of the entire process that the owner of the stolen account created. It is written in Russian, but I think it will be useful as an example for the OP.
OP, I think you can do it. Good luck.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5284615.0


Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: Rikafip on April 19, 2021, 07:29:07 AM
I remember a case of recovering a hacked account as recently as October 2020.
The stolen account was recovered using a signed ETH address. There is even a manual or description of the entire process that the owner of the stolen account created. It is written in Russian, but I think it will be useful as an example for the OP.
OP, I think you can do it. Good luck.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5284615.0
Thanks for sharing that! I am glad  to be proven wrong in this case and that is indeed possible to recover account using ETH address like  @Shef198911 did in that case you linked! Maybe that topic about account recovering should be updated so people actually know that signed ETH address is a valid proof of ownership.



Title: Re: Account stolen, proving ownership of ETH address?
Post by: Pmalek on April 19, 2021, 08:29:16 AM
Even though this is a Bitcoin forum, I see no reason why the recovery team would not accept a signed message from an Ethereum address as long as the address is visible in an unedited post from before the alleged hack took place. Like it or not, many people use Ethereum accounts for bounties and airdrops and the majority of these ETH accounts are created on MyEtherWallet which contains a message signing feature.

I was also not aware of a case where such an account was successfully recovered. Thanks to lovesmayfamilis we now know that it's possible.