Bitcoin Forum

Will someone have access to your wallet without your device but the person manage to see your private keys and copy them without your knowledge. Will the person be able to withdraw your money or change password and block you from having access to your wallet?

Your seed phrase or your private key is enough for someone to compromise you wallet and spend your coins. Only what you will see is that your coins has been spent. Your seed phrase generates the private key, the private key generates the public key and the digital signature needed for spending your coins. Keep your seed phrase and private key safe.

A bit of correction if your seed is already compromised and someone has access to your seed he can able to withdraw or transfer BTC to another wallet but by changing the password and blocking you then no they can't do that unless they have remote access to your PC but even they can do that anytime you can recover it by using your seed backup.

I think, if someone manages to obtain your private keys without your knowledge, they can potentially gain access to your wallet and perform actions on your behalf, such as withdrawing your funds or changing passwords. Private keys are crucial for accessing and controlling your cryptocurrencies stored in your wallet. Maybe you should try transferring your private key to a physical safe or writing it on a paper than storing it to your devices.

Take note that your password encrypts your wallet file locally, so that someone who has access to your device can't access your fund.
Someone who has access to your seed phrase can use it to generate the same wallet and spend your fund. The thief doesn't need your password at all.


Wrong.
They can spend the fund, but there is no way to change your password. As already said, your password encrypts your wallet file locally.

All they require to access your wallet, is your seed phrase  they actually don't need your device or have to change your password. Once they are done withdrawing your funds there's actually no use of the wallet anymore.



 Changing password actually depends on the type of wallet you are using, some wallet require some verification via sms or Gmail before you are being able to change your password and no one will be interested in wasting time doing all that. So they just need your seed phrase just like @hosseinimr93 said, to generate a new wallet





After generating the wallet, will the new wallet have the same address as the original wallet?

It does not depend on the type of wallet if it is a noncustodial wallet. Only centralized platforms can do that and they are completely different from noncustodial wallets.

Can you explain this very well, like it is not relating to what hosseinimr93 posted. If you have your seed phrase, you do not need your password to spend your coins, all you have to do is to create another wallet and set another password. But because of your password, another person can not access your wallet to steal your seed phrase or private key if you are careful of people around you and also careful of malware.

Yes platforms like centralized exchanges (binance and its kind) send new passwords to your Gmail and also phone number used to register on them. This one of the downside of using centralized platforms because this password are gotten with your email it is much easier to get access to your exchange.

Let me break it down for you. A password only works on application or wallet you set it. For example if you set a password on the MetaMask wallet, when you import the seed or keys gotten from that wallet to a new wallet (say blue wallet), you do not need the password set on MetaMask to access this funds because the password only applies to the MetaMask wallet on that device only

The address used to receive coins has a seed phrase. From this address the private key is obtained by the owner and from the coin address the owner can sign messages.

When someone who wants to create a Bitcoin address in a wallet will go through several processes before the address is successfully created.
There is a process in making an address, an order is obtained to save the seed and there is a process for the prospective owner of the address to create a strong password.
Ok. The address was created successfully and the owner of the address allows the address to receive and send coins.

If someone can guess the password and find your address seed, then that person can do as they wish with the coins in your coin address.
That's what I know from what I've tried to make an address on one of the wallets and that's what I've read.

Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins.
Not Your Keys, Not Your Money.

Just a brief clarification: password isn't the same as passphrase in Bitcoin terms. The former is used when you want to encrypt the wallet file locally, so that a thief can't steal your money with that file per se. But it can very much steal it with the seed phrase. The latter (which is also called BIP39 passphrase) is used as part of the seed phrase.

- To recover a wallet which uses a custom passphrase, both the passphrase and the seed phrase are required.
- To recover a wallet which uses a password, only the seed phrase is enough.

Someone can only try to guess the password to your wallet file if they have the device where your wallet file is installed, so as you use a strong password for your wallet, also use a strong PIN for your device, so that no person can gain access into your device. Addresses don't have their individual seed, what they have is keys, but with hierarchical deterministic wallets, multiple addresses are gotten from a seed phrase, and with that seed phrase your addresses and their keys can be imported locally by whoever has it and be spent.

Everyone has access to your wallet seed is able to access your coins and move it.

A wallet seed contains your private key which is like a key to your house. With that key, everyone can get in your house and steal everything there.

With Bitcoin wallet, we only need private key to move coins. You don't need a car, truck or anything to load up stuffs like stealing physical things in your someone house. Digitally is more simply.

@ Charles-Tim and hosseinimr93 has said it all with a proper explanation. If someone has access to your seedphrase all he needs to do is to import your seed phrase to his wallet and he will take full control of your coins,infact he becomes the rightful owner because he can do whatever he wants with your coins without your knowledge.

In bitcoin noncustodial wallets password is not as effective as the seed phrase because I can feel insecure and choose to change my password,but I can't change my seed phrase. Your wallet can be accessible without your password,if you forget your password and have access to your seed phrase. If you do not back up your seed phrase and you lose your device which your wallet is on,it is impossible for you to get access to your wallet,even if you know your password. This is how important the seed phrase is.

Yes, what Charles-Tim stated is true, if someone has access to your private key he will automatically get an access to the funds on it.  A private key can be presented by a physical wallet that holds your fiat money.  If someone got access to your wallet,  they are able to get the fund and anything within that wallet.

So we should take care of our seed phrase and private key and make it secure.  You can check this thread discussion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5452750.0) for ideas and advice on how to secure your wallet and/or check these articles for more information on securing your Bitcoin wallet:
What Are the Safest Ways To Store Bitcoin? (https://www.investopedia.com/news/bitcoin-safe-storage-cold-wallet/)
Securing your wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-wallet#online)


No, they can't block you from accessing your wallet since you also have the private key or the seed phrase, the person can have full access to the wallet thus he can move your funds to an address you don't have access to.

Your wallet is merely a tool to interact with coins stored inside the Bitcoin blockchain, and this tool is almost useless without the actual keys that you mentioned as a "seed phrase." Anyone who has gotten access to your secret key can theoretically import it into another wallet and move your coins to an address to which you have no keys. This is called a transfer of ownership, and it actually occurs every time you are making a transaction with another person. The main point of this story is that coins are never stored locally on your device: instead, they are being held by thousands of computers globally, but only the person who knows the secret can move them around. This is why it is important to never disclose the location in which a backup of keys resides or share the key itself because it would mean that you are no longer the sole owner of coins.

I almost made the same mistake sometimes ago, before a friend of mine had to correct me properly on how to keep my seed phrase safe. Some people don’t realise how important and outmost the seed phrase can be, under no circumstances should someone else get’s hold of our private key wallet, all the funds ends up gets stolen by the other party. No other person should be accessible to your wallet apart from you alone, it is well advisable to keep your seed phrase far away from where anyone else can see or get hold of.

Yes, that's very possible, this depends on how you handles your keys, your seedphrase is the ey access to your bitcoin on blockchain, once they take control over your seeds then your wallet is compromised and they have taken charge of it entirely, this calls for you to always safeguard your keys especially when it comes to seedphrase, they are the key access to your wallet and can be imported on any device to have access to your coins on the blockchain.

Make efforts to store seeds and or private keys as well as possible and as safely as possible, even be willing to spend money, including avoiding internet connections and keeping investment activities secret from unknown people so as to ensure that all assets are intact in all amounts.

I would say they can perform any action when the private key and or seed is known by someone else.
Use it well and take good care of it before someone else discovers it.
Create security in layers, create strong passwords and avoid sloppiness.
When you don't care, everything is in vain and you will regret it when it happens.

Short answer: yes.
That person who happens to know your seed phrase will also have access to your wallet because that's what it all takes for someone to recover and import it through seed phrase. That's why we keep it away from anyone and we don't tell it even to the closest people to us. Because you'll never know who have taken your funds if it's recovered by that robber through your private keys or seed phrases.

Your Seed phrase should be private and if somehow it goes public your assets will be stolen, the only thing keeping your assets safe in your wallet is the recovery seed, do not share with any living soul, some scammers can come online to ask you to share in return with higher number of free coins or tokens it's all a scam, do not listen to such nuisance.

Also, be on watch out for bad links, they consist of different malware and some are good enough that they can gather vital info from your phone or your computer, make sure you don't click any links that any stranger sent to you either via email inbox, text messages or PM through Twitter and other social media, most especially that so called Telegram, there are so many scammers on that app.

Adding a password to your wallet doesn’t really do much except protect that device, your seed phrase can be imported into another wallet and your password won’t be required. Like Charles-Tim said, if a person manages to get hold of your private keys, he can access your wallet and spend your coins. It’s the reason why bitcoiners have the saying “Not your keys, Not your coins”, so store your private keys offline and keep them safe.

The risk is very big if someone can have access to your wallet, all the assets you have can immediately change hands without you knowing it. It is highly recommended to store the seed phase or private key in a safe place. Besides that, always avoid phishing, malware, applications containing viruses or the like that can threaten the safety of the assets you have.

Cases of loss of assets have happened before, hopefully this information can be a lesson for Op and also other users to further improve Wallet security and avoid phishing or the like.

1. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=795023
2. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=795023.msg8952071#msg8952071

 Hackers never stop launching their attacks, one of the methods they use is by spreading phishing links through websites and social media to trap their victims. Always be careful that the assets you store in Wallet remain safe.

When someone have the seed phrase of the wallet that you are using where you are storing your funds then Yes, someone will be able to steal your money. Seed phrase is enough to access the wallet and the best choice you do is create a new one and transfer the funds right away if you think someone knows the seed phrase.

It's important that no one knows about it and how you keep a back up of the seed phrase and where you save it.

Seed phrase is the most important thing before your device. If someone has your seed phrase they can have the access of your wallet and stole your bitcoins. But if you have a hard wallet only seed phrase will not work, the hard wallet is also needed to get access of the coins. As the coins will be stored in the wallet itself.

Absolutely Yes, Have you not heard --> Your Key, Your funds? Even if you lost the key or someone stole it from your it's no more your key and anyone with the seed phrase can open your wallet and can change the password but AFAIK he/she can't change the seed phrase because it's fixed. So, you can again use the same seed phrase to recover your account but what use it will be then, as the unauthorized person must have already taken all of your money and flown away?

Keep in mind Key is everything without it you are no more owner. I have seen many cases in which people forget to store their keys in safe places, even forget to save them in any place and when they need them, and can't find them. Then they realize, that they have lost their funds. As, according to stats and history, Many Dormant BTC addresses (the ones which are not active for a long period of time) is a live proof of Lost Wallets, which means people have lost their wallets/keys to their wallets and now they can't access them. Following are some Dormant Addresses that aren't active (maybe some have become active).

• Lost Dormant Bitcoin Address list (https://cryptomaa.com/lost-dormant-bitcoin-address/)
• 42,000 dormant bitcoin addresses (https://steemit.com/dormant/@rogerripple/42-000-dormant-bitcoin-addresses)

Most of the analysist says, 20% of the supply of BTC in circulation is wasted because of lost of keys and they have become dormant BTC addresses. But this is just estimation, because no solid stats are provided so, DYOR too.

Yes the receiving wallet address will remain the same nothing changes and your seed phrase can be use to import on multiple wallet at the same time


if your seed phrase is already compromised you need to delete and create a new wallet, there is no two ways about it.

This question is very ambiguous, it can mean yes and no. The questioner should better explain what a "new wallet" is in this context. I think he's referring to a fresh(just installed) wallet app and/or in a different device instead of generating a new wallet address.

Not all of dormant BTC addresses and Inactive UTXOs are storing lost bitcoin. They can belong to someone who just are in jails but they will be free someday, or someone who have yet wanted to move their coins like diamond-handed Bitcoiners. Dormant addresses are dormant but not actually lost ones.

It is an estimate and with assumption that those inactive UTXOs are all for lost bitcoins. Some very old UTXOs woke up and created panic on the market. We don't know how many inactive UTXOs can wake up after many years.

If you have interest in dormant UTXOs, find something from https://www.lookintobitcoin.com/charts/hodl-waves/

You can forget about your wallet. You can forget about your password. Your seed phrase is everything. If somebody gets access to your wallet but without the password, he/she cannot steal your funds. If he/she gets access to your password but not your wallet, he/she can't make any withdrawal. But if he/she gets access to your seed phrase, even without the wallet or your password, he/she can take away all your money. So protect your seed phrase at all costs.

Absolutely, 100% right! If someone gains access to your private keys without your knowledge, they can potentially control your wallet and perform actions on your behalf. This includes withdrawing funds. That's why people here in the forum always warn you to be aware of this: always keep your private key in a safe place; a ledger wallet (which is not connected to the internet) is better; never share your private key with others; and so on. If someone has your private key, then passwords, 2FA, or whatever security features you use won't matter. Your assets don't belong to you anymore.

That is why it is called a private key which nobody is suppose to have access to apart from you. Your coin can been spent if someone gets access to your private key which will be imported to a non custodial wallet and your coin will be spent easily. Your private is your personal key, if anybody have access to it, it is as if the person has a spare key to your wallet.

Yes the person will be able to withdraw your money which you can never recover back again, your private keys is as important as your coin, so you have to put it in a safe place no one can have access to it.

They won't be needing to know what your password is. They can set up a new one once they entered the seed phrase to the system. If they can do it, that means you can do it too.

Also, there is no way that they can OR you can block each other from accessing the wallet WHILE you both knew the seed phrase exactly. As far as I know, that feature doesn't exist.
It's best to not store your seeds online, take the hassle and write it down then keep it to the safe place.

I don't really know much about the seed phrase you mentioned, but if it has anything to do with the access to your coins/money in this case, it sure as hell can be stolen.
The only thing that might limit such someone from withdrawing or transferring all your funds is if they love you too well like family or are family. If they are also your brokers in most instances too.
If you let someone have your seed phrase it should mean you trust them and they, you.

Should I just say your private key is your money, anybody that can have access to your private key already have access to your money, they can move out all the coin in the wallet at any moment they like, that's why private key should be protect very well, if anyone have access to your wallet private key, the person won't be able to change your private key, you can't change a private key, but the person can just create new wallet and send all the coin you are having to the new wallet, then the person will leave the wallet empty for you, the person won't stop you from having access to your wallet, but you won't be able to have access to your coin anymore.

Can.

Initial phrase is their first way to spend your assets because the initial prhades are different from passwords.
Because the initial seed and private key are very important, the OP needs to guard it from the reach of others.
Maintaining early phrase and private key safely is the same as keeping ourselves survived the danger.

Anyone could get some clues or derivatives to either find a means to spend your coin or convey them to wherever he wants.....that can only be achieved when he's in touch with your seed phrase.
Anyways, except otherwise, the person must be a close associate of the scammed In question. Maybe not too close, but saying out secrets like "how much worth of coin you have" usually raises an eyebrow of anyone. It's advisable to not even store them on chrome default tabs/ remind my seed phrase etc.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰