Bitcoin Forum

Many digital process have recovery method that enable the holder to recover their private key or password when they lost it but I was amazed to see that if you lost the private key or password that control your Bitcoin that no one will help you to recover it which means that the Bitcoin is lost forever.
I must sincerely say that it's so painful for one to lost his hard earn Bitcoin as a result lost or forgotten password and considering how valuable and expensive Bitcoin is there is need for it to have a recovery method that will enable the holders to recover their password when they lost it or when it is forgotten to enable them have access to their Bitcoin asset.
Now my question is, why is Bitcoin lost private key not recoverable?



https://www.google.com/search?q=why+happen+to+those+bitcoin+that+their+owner+lost+their+key&client=ms-opera-mini-android&sca_esv=7e03d9ee9bc2dbda&channel=new&biw=360&bih=596&sxsrf=AE3TifOyL7X0F8fBblqHFBycv88L6GYpLw%3A1763318589498&ei=PRsaaZfuHbKM9u8Pw96U-A8&oq=why+happen+to+those+bitcoin+that+their+owner+lost+their+key&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIjt3aHkgaGFwcGVuIHRvIHRob3NlIGJpdGNvaW4gdGhhdCB0aGVpciBvd25lciBsb3N0IHRoZWlyIGtleTIEECEYFUj5ogNQvyBY_ZoDcAN4AZABAJgBtg2gAbYNqgEDOC0xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIFoAKYEKgCLcICBBAAGEfCAgcQIxgnGOoCwgINECMYgAQYJxiKBRjqAsICEBAjGPAFGIAEGCcYigUY6gLCAhAQABgDGLQCGOoCGI8B2AEBwgIQEC4YAxi0AhjqAhiPAdgBAZgDvwHxBeBvAmjWBByyiAYBkAYIugYECAEYCpIHBzIuMi43LTGgB44BsgcDNy0xuAfhDcIHCzItMS4xLjEuMS4xyAe_Ag&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

To answer you, i must have to include a question also and for that reason i have to asj, what the need of having bitcoin if and when someone else can have your private keys or whatever password security to your wallet?
There is no decentralization innthat and also you lose your freedomgo and what the phrase not your keys not your coins meant in reality.

If it was recoverable, who would recover the private key?

Bitcoin is decentralized so there is no central point to store your private key to remind you if you forget or lose it. The only way to keep your wallet is if you remember because it is generated when you create your address at random because of the infinite number of private keys that can exist

You mean seed phrase or private key. Or if encrypted with password or extended with passphrase. All these are very important because if you lose any of them, your coins will be lost.

But this question is somehow and should be a question you should be able to answer yourself. Just make sure you do not lost what you can use to have access to your coins.

I lost a grain of sand anywhere in the milky way galaxy can you find it for me.

it is pretty much that hard to do.


or try this one i lost a grain of sand anywhere in the Sahara desert. Once you find it if you do I will lose it a thousand times so after you find it a thousand times maybe then you can pick up a pair of dice and throw a pair of sixes at least a dozen times in a row.


you think the Entire city of new york could be working on it and it would still take a million years or more to do what I said.

If you have the seed phrase from which this private key is derived, then you can recover this from the seed. But if this private key is generated as a single wallet or generated from bitaddress, then it's not recoverable.

It's not the same as a lost password, where you are able to brute-force your wallet file if you forget the password.

That's why it's a must to have a backup of this on an offline device in multiple places or to have a seed phrase and write it down on paper. To make sure in the future if your wallet is lost from your device, you will be able to recover it.
If all of these backups are lost/missing/gone, then that's unrecoverable. There's no way to get access again once all backups are gone.

If you hold your Bitcoin on a centralized exchange or a custodial wallet in which before you can access your coins, you will be required to enter a password, that means when  you lose your password, you can quickly chose the option to reset your password on that exchange or contact support management of the custodial wallet, but if you are holding your coins in a non custodial wallet, it means you have full control of your private key.

Non custodial wallet is designed to give users a better autonomy and security and that's the best thing about Bitcoin technology. In your non custodial wallet, your Bitcoin is not under the control of a third party, that's why when you lose your key, you lose your Bitcoin, but if you don't want that, you can choose a custodial wallet, but that will be risky because your Bitcoin can be mismanaged by the third party.

Yes, it is.  Modern wallets are all HD (hierarchical deterministic).  Basically, your private key isnt just one password you can lose.  Instead, all your individual private keys come from a single Master Seed. This seed is usually a 12-24 word phrase, called a Mnemonic Phrase (or Recovery Seed/Seed Phrase).  That IS your recovery method.

You ask for a recovery method, but clearly havent grasped the core philosophy: Bitcoin does not have a third party, and thats the whole reason it works.

Name one "digital process" recovery method that does not involve some central authority (a bank, Google, Apple, an ISP) that holds the real power to override your credentials.  I bet you cant.  Every single one requires you to trust someone else to act as the intermediary and bail you out.

If you introduce a backdoor or "recovery method" into Bitcoin, you are asking for someone else to have a Master Key to your money.

Do you want that?

If your answer is yes, then you should not be using self-custody.  Your need for a safety net means you fundamentally dont trust yourself to be responsible for your keys.

The solution is simple and already exists: Use a custodial service, like a major exchange.

They hold your keys, they handle the security, and they offer password recovery because they are the third party you are asking for.

Bitcoin doesn't have a security system where when you recover a password to a system you can be monitored, the key concept and connection are not the same.
Bitcoin isn't a centralized system where everything is monitored, it's a decentralized network where everything is designed by a code and once that code matches the condition to spend the coin, you can spend the coin without any obstruction 

You are the security and responsible for everything about your Bitcoin wallet, the first thing you do when you create a wallet is kmow that it's not recoverable which is why you need to properly make sure you back up your private key or seed phrase, keep it save In a secure where only you can access it. If you do this, you have no problem with worrying with this topic because that's how Bitcoin is designed to work, not banking system you can enter the bank premises and ask for help.

In bitcoin, you are your own bank. Thus, you arrange your own recovery method AKA make backups—plural.  :D

The harsh reality is, anyone who doesn't take backups seriously, shouldn't be keeping bitcoins IMO as we never know when things go south and they could lose these money. The good news is, making backups is pretty easy. Just write the seed down in a piece of paper and store it somewhere safe. You could also looking  into metal plates which are more sturdy in case of natural disasters.

So there wouldn’t be any room for assumptions or presumptions.

There is such a thing as self custody, a way to eliminate all possible errors that could results in hacks and all your hodlings get taken away at a go.
You just make sure you put in place proper safety measures to recover your lost seed phrase when lost. It’s the maximum security you can actually have and the means is as limitless as you make it.

This is one of the reasons some people don't like bitcoin or they use it the wrong way. People are too used to having others do things for them. They have accountants, managers, financial managers, financial advisers, auditors and more . They are too comfortable at people doing everything for them, that is why it is difficult for them to cope doing bitcoin things themselves without a third party.

This is also the same reason why bitcoin decentralisation is being directly or indirectly downplayed every time. People like trusting people and government to make decisions for them, and it has not being turning out well for a long time.

Surely if a Bitcoin private key is lost without a backup, then it has lost forever and likewise you Bitcoin holding is lost forever. That is why the topmost priority of a Bitcoin holder is his private key, that's where the slogan of "not your key not your coin" emanated from. This means if you lost access to your Bitcoin holdings , your holdings is no longer yours or anyone else.

Why Bitcoin private key is not recorverable is because the system mechanism is programmed in a way that it generate key that only you have access to. When creating a wallet the system generate a private an public key which is only know by you and no one else. Why the public key is even seen by others is because that is the only way you can receive crypto currency, but the private key becomes only your access. Don't you think if there is a way to recover your key if lost that same way your wallet can be hack ?

The easiest way to keep your private key safe is by buying a crypto stell capsule and arrange the key in it according to your private key and keep safe, maybe you can buy 2 and keep Dem on separate places, so that if one loses you you can have a backup in the second.

Because it's, at least now, impossible to brute force Bitcoin private keys or mnemonic seeds. It's impossible to find an atom in the universe.

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/blob/develop/ch04_keys.adoc

https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/guide/private-keys/

https://external-preview.redd.it/x4hn_K499sKjM5TSxwowOLO3rLoDeBRCco6a8kDjuoA.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=acecbfa9b9be13a0745b0bb6fe649bc5fd2330e3

There are services that attempt to help someone who has lost access, but they still offer no guarantees. Because there are many different types of wallets, and each wallet owner's security practices vary, resolvers typically perform some analysis to determine the severity of the damage and the likelihood of recovery (they may require more data and information from you). If you only provide them with a public address, the resolver will likely give up early. However, if you only lose one of the 13 extended seed phrases, this is a different story.

When you generate your own keys, you are implicitly committing to taking responsibility for your own security, whether you care about it or not.

The simple answer:

You are the only one that knows the private key and nobody else has a way to find out what it is. So if you don't set up a way to recover it (i.e. backing it up), then it can be lost forever.

I think your real question is why is there no second-party recovery system built into Bitcoin?

The answer is simply that any second-party recovery system can be abused by the second party. A second-party recovery system requires that you to give some control of your bitcoins to an entity that may not act in your best interest. Bitcoin fundamentally gives you 100% complete control of your bitcoins and nobody can take that away from you.


Keep in mind that most of those services are scams. The chances of recovering a lost key or phrase is typically so remote that there is no sustainable business model.

The reason is that bitcoin is decentralised in nature and if there is any recovery methods them bitcoin won't be decentralised. The decentralised nature of bitcoin is what makes it to be different from fiat and the freedom that bitcoin offers. If bitcoin was to have a recovery key it will depict what bitcoin stands for. The possibilities of some one else having access to your bitcoin, if there is recovery method for private will be there . So the reason for no recovery method for private key is strictly to secure bitcoin and not to give room to third party having access to your bitcoin.who ever that have access to your private key can have access to your bitcoin.

When your private key is generated, you are the only person who knows it, Not even the wallet provider is knowledgeable of it that is why you are always prompted to write it down and keep it safe....It is basically for security  purpose because if it was recoverable, scammer can develop a way to by pass the authentication and them recover it without your knowledge and all your assets will be lost. It also makes you accountable to your assets so you wont have to blame anybody if anything is to happen because it will definitely be due to your own negligence and carelessness. SO keep your passphrase and seedphrase safe at all time to avoid a lot of unnecessary loss for your own good.

If one can easily recover their private keys, then the possibility of hacks would definitely increase because everyone can be able to guess the private keys of wallets to do away with people's assets, which would defeat the real purpose for which Bitcoin and crypto were invented. I believe the algorithm that generates the wallet keys does that randomly in a million ways, so that one can never be able to guess the words, and it is only done accordingly to and in sequence how they were formed to be able to access such a wallet, as that is the only word the wallet recognises to grant access to the owner.

Our assets are store on the blockchain, coded through the private keys that disallowed any other person to have access to it except having the unblocking keys in correspondence, not any cloud storage or centralized platform can serve an alternative in this.

The more you're having alternative means to store your private keys in a more coverable manner is a vulnerability on itself, maybe all a user should know is how they can safely secure these keys and maintain privacy.

I think some of friends here have already provided the answer, and you can read it slowly, or with full attention. Additionally, as owners of our phrase or private key wallets, we should already be aware of the potential for Bitcoin loss, if we don't safeguard them properly. Therefore, it is crucial to perform a series of backups, which should be done offline, stored securely, and never stored online. We can store them on external storage, such as an SSD, but once again, never try to connect it to an unsecured device, and avoid direct online connections to the drive. We also need to realize that we don't know how long we will live, so we need to leave a legacy, but make sure they can't access it before we die.

By the way, I think you need to read the following thread which discusses a Bitcoin recovery tool : bitcointalk.org - The FinderOuter, a bitcoin recovery tool by @Coding Enthusiast (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5214021.msg53490970#msg53490970)

Listen attentively, what is the name of the Bitcoin wallet you used lately? It seems that you have found a Bitcoin wallet that let's you log into the wallet using email and password? I am happy you created this topic because you are about to make the same mistake that I did few years ago.

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There is a difference between a custodial and non custodial wallet, any wallet that gives you access to your Bitcoin by just logging into your account they are custodial wallet, do not use them to store your Bitcoin.

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All you need is a wallet that gives you total control via recovery seed or private key, don't use wallets that hides these two important backup and replace them with log in as if you want to log into a website account.

Examples are Bitgo, cobo wallet, freewallet, Coinbase, avoid them at all cost.
Go for unstoppable wallet, Electrum wallet, Blue wallet, Trezor, these are examples of Non-custodial Bitcoin wallets.

When I first joined this forum, I also had similar questions. Like why can't we recover lost Bitcoin or can anybody brute force my address and steal my Bitcoin?! Well, without going deep, I'll just quote the answer I got at that time. Btw, by password you meant seed phrase right?

Also, check out this video below and you'll understand why you can't recover it, in extend how secure Bitcoin is. The concept is the same in both cases, I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9JGmA5_unY

Once lost, forever lost.

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