Bitcoin Forum

Good Afternoon,

I have 10,000 crypto coins trapped in cold storage on an external drive from 2013. All i have is the QR codes for doge, infinite, xrp and bitcoin. Can anyone suggest how to get them back? I can not get them off. I have the applications but no older computer to run them on.

Can you start by explaining a bit better what you have?
What's on the external drive: wallets?
Why do you say all you have is QR codes: are those on the drive? What do the codes decode to (don't post it here)?
Why would you need an older computer, while virtually any computer can be used to install a wallet?

I have 10,000 infinite coins I believe on a external drive. I have the QR code in png format but dont know how to retrieve the coins as an example.

As long as we don't know what's the QR code, no one can help you. As mentioned by LoyceV, we need more information.
Scan the QR code using a QR Code scanner in a safe device and tell us how it looks like. (Don't ever share the code here, just tell us the number of characters and the letter/number it starts with.)

Isn't that a series of words?
There's also the possibility that they are your private keys.

For altcoins, you'll have to post your questions in Altcoin Discussion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0).

For QR-codes, I would start by getting some reader software on an offline system, and check what it spits out. If it's a private key, most wallets will be able to import it. If it's worth a lot, you should take safety precautions.
For most altcoins I have no idea how to do this, for Bitcoin I can explain how to do it safely (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5349382.msg57466089#msg57466089).

If the QR codes represent private keys, you'll be able to import them into a wallet that's compatible with the currency in question.

Using bitcoin as an example; you can download a bitcoin compatible wallet, such as Electrum and use that to scan the QR code to import the bitcoin private keys.  Obviously you'll need a camera to scan the code.

You'll need to do that for every currency you have.  There are wallets which are compatible with multiple currencies, but I'm not familiar with them so I'll refrain from mentioning them.  Don't use on-line tools to read the QR codes, that could compromise your funds.

Check: [overview] Recover Bitcoin from any old storage format (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4959742.0).

You only need to recover the wallet files from its hard drive. Then, you could move them by importing them into your new computer's installed wallet software.

You mean infinitecoins (https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/infinitecoin/)? 10,000 IFC worth $1.7 so I don't think it's worth spending your time searching for a wallet to import private key(s).

You say QR codes from 2013... I doubt people used them so widely 8 years ago for anything related with Bitcoin.

There are some program you can use on offline computer to read QR codes (example CoBang for Linux), but this won't help you a lot if code is encrypted and with password.

So you mean you have 4 different qr codes? If that's the case, I think it represents the address of your wallet. Sorry to say but that is likely not gonna help you. Btw, why did you believe you had 10k coins in the first place? Did you have a copy of the address? Have you checked whether the qr code match that address or not?

Private keys can also generate different qr codes if you're just putting a prefix like "bitcoin:" at the beginning.


Maybe he doesn't want to risk it with an internet-connected computer (likely the one he's using now).

Your Infinitecoins are not worth recovering. If it's the asset that BlackHatCoiner linked to, don't bother if the amount is 10.000. What about your Doge, XRP, and bitcoin? Do you remember how much of those you have? Any chance that you can remember how you got those QR codes in the first place? You must have scanned addresses or private keys in a wallet or exchange somewhere.

You said that your codes are in .png format. Did you take screenshots of them from a website or wallet?
Maybe the layout or design of the site/software can help in finding out where you got them from. You could upload the picture so people can take a look but make sure your cover the code.

Your problem is not difficult but how you say it make it look difficut.
Do you have 10,000 of doge, infinitecoin, bitcoin different or all of them is worth the 10,000coins. Or do you mean you have $10,000 worth of coins in your cold storage.
Again. You say you have QR Code available. Did you used paper wallet? or Hardware wallet. Because paper wallet normally has QR Code.
Hardware wallet need computer to store the private key offline. Did you print it then or you have a screenshot that gave you the QR Code.
As said by someone above, use a safe scanner and scan the code to see the result you will get.