Bitcoin Forum

As the title says about  A year ago I was in a very bad car accident and suffered a Trumatic brain injury as a result the last few months have been where I have turned around and I am able to remember stuff and do complicated things.

Before my accident I was very involved in crypto coins I mind like queens with six mining rigs I bought and sold BTCs etc.

 Now that I am starting to remember stuff I remember that I had multiple while it's on my computer using bitcoin core and I also had multiple wallets that I only used seed phrases to access I have eight or nine papers with my seat Frases written down on them a couple are 12 word phrases and a couple are 18 word phrases but most of them are 24 word phrases I've done some research over the past few weeks which is been really hard because I'm basically learning 75% of what I knew over again.

After my research I did use the app MyCelium which is far as I know only supports 12 word phrases I was only able to get one of my 12 word phrases to work which of course had to be in my one while it with only 100 and something dollars and big Queens and basically my change or a hot wallet every other wallet  I have not been able to access especially the 24 word ones I cannot get the 24 word ones to work on anything.

Also on each paper with my phrases I have a set of numbers written down such as 3572/18.  I don't remember if this was just my way of  keeping track of my wallets or if it had something to do with the phrases.

I know it's a lot to ask and I have done my research but does anyone know of a easy or explainable way that I can access these wallets I am very pretty technologically capable or at least I used to be.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you.

The "3572/18" part looks like a datestamp that you get from MultiBit HD... It also allows creation of 12, 18 or 24 word seeds.

I'd suggest you try restoring these seeds in MultiBit HD and see if they work.

Good Luck.

Mycelium does support 18 and 24 word seed phrases now, but I'm not sure if they did when you created the wallets. However, it shouldn't matter as almost all wallets that use those seed phrases use the same key derivation algorithm so it can be used with multiple clients.

Given that you have written down numbers like 3572/18 next to your seed phrases, I think your best bet would be MultiBit HD. AFAIK, MultiBit HD is the only wallet that has users also write down numbers like that. It is used as a timestamp so that when you restore your wallet it knows at what point in the blockchain it should begin searching for transactions instead of searching from the beginning of the blockchain.

I really wish that were the case... but quite simply, it isn't... :(

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1000544.0

Have a look at the mnemonic compatibility tab of the spreadsheet... the compatibility between clients is pretty limited, especially if the seed was originally from MultiBit HD... If that is true, then the only other compatible wallet currently, is Breadwallet (which is Android/iOS only)

Thanks for all of the help and advice everyone!

To me these numbers dont look like date stamps although I dont remember what a Multibit date stamp looks like.  Could they be "derivation path" numbersOne of the iOS wallets I tried was Copay and when you try to import a wallet with a seed phrase under advanced options it has an option for "derivation path" right now on a blank wallet it says m/44'/0'/0'.

As an example and Im pretty sure nobody could do anything with this one of my phrase sheets has 2557/35 on it.  Does that look like a Multibit date stamp?


I already have Multibit HD on my computer although not sure which version its probably an outdated version.  I will see if I can figure it out.

OMG you guys were right I think.

I just tried it with Multibit HD and I got a check mark when I entered my 12 words and another check mark when I entered the numbers as the date stamp and it found the wallet.

Right now it says "Wallet loaded successfully" and "Connected tothe Bitcoin network successfully" and "Synchronizing wallet"


After this I will try my 18 and 24 word ones.

LACSTS (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=966609) vs. gowner0303 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1003559)  ummmm?? ???

You might want to pick an account and stick with it...  or be more careful if you are trying to Multi account... #justSaying

And yes, the MultiBit HD datestamp is in the form "1234/12"... it is some proprietary format that is probably only described in the MBHD code. All it is used for is telling the application to start scanning the blockchain from a certain date/block number... so if you created a wallet last month it won't need to scan the whole blockchain looking for transactions belonging to your wallet... The idea being to speed up initial synchronisation after a restore.

Yes thats me.  Not trying to multi account or cause problems or break the rules.  I tried to register and reocver previous passwords for an hour and this site kept telling me every time I had to wait to log in again and when it said it was sending me an email I would never get it.


Just looking for help Im sorry if Ive done anything wrong.

I figured it out.  Somehow I  am logged into LACSTS on my phone and momgowner on my computer.


Can a mod please merge these accounts?  I will be using the gowner0303 account.


This is the most complicated thing I have done since my TBI so please be easy on me I am sorry.

Doesn't bother me mate... Loads of people use Alts here... It isn't against the rules (18. Having multiple accounts and account sales are allowed, but account sales are discouraged. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0))

Just gets a bit confusing talking to "different people" about the same thing... especially before I've had my morning coffee  ;D

Anyway, glad you got your wallet sorted... hopefully the others are working as well...

For the record, it turns out that the "datestamp" is the result of a function that works out the number of days since the Genesis block with an appended Modulo 97 checksum... which should be the "birth date" of the wallet...

Thanks for the info.

I am trying to convert my old chicken scratch hand writing at the moment while Multibit is scanning a 24 word phrase I got to work.  Its amazing how my handwriting has changed since my TBI.  I cant believe anyone ever was able to read my old handwriting.  I have the word list so I have something to go by.


I did find one 24 word phrase paper that only has 4 numbers on it not in the xxxx/xx format.  Its just 4 numbers.   And of course its the easiest to read so Ill try that next and hope it works.

I will keep you updated.



Thanks again for the help. 

I should have updated my bitcoin core as I haven't used it in a whole.   I forgot to up my miner fees and my transaction was stuck  the transaction after that confirmed within minutes.

I ran -zapwallet and the transaction is gone and the BTCs in my account.  You be done the research one it but I have one question.

I was sending it to Coinbase.  They have it received on my account with 0 conf. 

I ahohd not try to put it through again with higher miner fees as Cohnbaase transmute too as a full node correct?

If I put another trans through then consbase will show both transactions.

I should wait until morening at least?

Don't worry so much about the datestamp... it isn't actually required... it is just a shortcut to speed up syncing your wallet by starting to search the blockchain from the beginning of the day that your wallet was created. If you don't put a datestamp in, it just starts from the genesis block ;)

I can't really decypher what has happened here... but I'm guessing you had 1 transaction that confirmed OK and 1 transaction that got stuck due to low fees... You then ran -zapwallettxes and it removed the unconfirmed transaction from your wallet.

The problem will be that the transaction may still be in the mempool of various nodes (likely to stay there for at least 48-72 hours)... I wouldn't put another transaction through just yet... most nodes will reject it as a double spend anyway.

Keep checking the txid on the various block explorers until it disappears... or it confirms. Either way, you should be good to go.

The transaction from Multibit to Bitcoin Knox went perfectly and quickly because they had the miner fees set right.

Its the tx from my Bitcoin Know to Coinbase.

This morning I woke up and the tx was back still with 0 conf and it says this like its not broadcating anymore.  Is there a way to rebroadcast?  Does Coinbase broadcast?

Status: 0/unconfirmed, in memory pool
Date: 5/16/2017 20:39
To: CB5-16 1DPvBrFg2XCNyFNfMgemZZsvaygXXXXXXXXX
Debit: -XX.90000000 BTC
Transaction fee: -0.00030777 BTC
Net amount: -XX.90030777 BTC
Transaction ID: d675d2e516d680ee6d9661d5db5a7c05de5b15b6b9590c5abebd520c9841c8c0
Transaction size: 226 bytes
Output index: 0

Your transaction uses a fee of only: Fee per byte 136.181 sat/B

Given that recommended fees are well in excess of 200 sat/Byte... that transaction probably isn't going to confirm any time soon:

Your options are RBF (Replace By Fee) if the wallet supports it... or CPFP (Child Pays For Parent) if you control either of the addresses that are sent outputs.... or you can attempt to hammer the ViaBTC TX Accelerator (https://www.viabtc.com/tools/txaccelerator/) at the top of the hour and try to get in the first 100 txes submitted...

Good luck

EDIT: Because it was so close to the hour... I stalked the accelerator and got your transaction submitted ;) Hopefully when ViaBTC mine their next block your transaction will get included... should take less than 12 hours... I think they're currently averaging a block every 4-6 hours or something...

Yep.  Already confirmed.

Thank you!

Sorry for the delay.


I have gone through all of my seeds.  Found a bunch of empty wallets but with the transaction history showing correctly.  Only found one of my wallets with a balance which is where the above tx came from.


Only thing I have left is what looks like a private key except I havent found any formats that support it and it has 85 characters.  0 - 9 and
A - Z.

The first character is either a 1 or a lower case l.  I thought for a moment that maybe I listed the address and then the key but I have tried putting the first part as an address into block explorer and havent been able to find anything.

Are all BTC addresses 34 characters? 

Or an private keys that wiykd be 85 characters long?

85 characters is a bit odd...

Could be a 34 char public address + 51 char private key in WIF format or a 33 char pub address + 52 char compressed private key in WIF format.

Is there a 5 at char 35? or an L or K at position 34??

At character 35 there could be a 5 or it could be an S.  I know you said L or K at position 34



However if I count out 34 characters that is the complete first line (There are two) and then on the next line is where the 5 (or S) starts.  5 (or S) is the first character of the second line.

First line = 34 characters

Second line starts with a 5 or an S and completes the remaining 51 characters.


And the entire thing there is no part that only has characters A - F



Much thanks!!!

ok, sounds like the first line is the public address... starts with a 1 right?
second line is the private key in WIF format... starting with a 5.

Check this table for valid characters: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Base58Check_encoding#Base58_symbol_chart

It will hopefully help with confusing 1/l/I type situations.

Try plugging the public address into a block explorer and see if you get any history and a non zero balance ;)

You can also confirm the private key matches the public address by saving an offline copy of: https://www.bitaddress.org

Goto the "Wallet Details" tab and put the second line into the box and click "View Details"... the "Bitcoin Address" displayed should match the 1st line.

There are not many software wallets that this applies to, but I have run into at least too that either through some forked code or a software update that was intense, the passphrase were no longer working with the new versions.  It may have also been that the wallet had written installation data to the appdata folder that, when not present, preventing the acceptance of a passphrase that is unknown to the software. 

I do not know what methods that you are using to input your account info, but always use importing/sweeping as a last resort before giving up on a passphrase for a given wallet.
 

Hello all,

Sorry it’s been a while.  I’ve had so many medical problems especially memory wise so I just put most of this up until I improved some.


So where I’m at now is I have got three of the 8 mnemonic phrases to work.  Was able to see my balance and tx history.


On the rest though no balance and no tx history pops up.  I know that I never made any mnemonic backups unless that wallet had been or was being used.  I would put them all in the same envelope.

If I go to MultiBit enter the phrase until the next button activates ( they’re hard to read ) then I go through the rest of the process and wait for it to sync.

If no tx history is there and I know I’ve used that wallet before then does that mean I have not entered the correct words?  Does it work like that?  Where I could enter words that will make the next button activate but they’re not actually the corrrect words and therefore would show no tx history?

ie I have one that has the what I used that wallet for and the ending bal written on it so I know ive used it but it shows no tx history at all.

Is this possible?  Does it work this way?

Much thanks in advance.

No... the seed phrases include a "checksum" so that you can't just enter any old random phrase and it will generate a wallet. Changing just one word is likely to result in an invalid phrase (not always, but in my rather non scientific testing, maybe only 15 words out of the 2048 in the wordlist will generate a valid phrase if one word is changed)...

If you have the correct words, and nothing is showing up... then could it be possible that this seed phrase was for a different coin/wallet? (Not all wallets use the same derivation path)

Hello again all ,


Its been a while but all of this was actually good for me according to my Dr even though Im pretty sure he had no idea what I was talking about.

Where I am now.

Same situation with the mnemonics.  Some I can put the words in Multibit HD , MyCelium , Bread , and ive tried Electrum.

I can figure out my chicken scratch handwriting and get the wallet to accept the words as a valid mnemonic and about three or four have worked but mostly once it scans the BC it shows no tx no history nothing.

I dont know what or if there were passwords on the mnemonics.

So question # 1 - If I enter a mnemonic and it verifies by saying it is a correct mnemonic I click next and dont enter a password or if the wallet requires it I enter a new one.  If there is no tx history can I assume the wallet was not restored?  As in IF I did put a password on the  mnemonic when I made it , then dont use that password and / or use a new one will that make the wallet not show any tx?




Question 2 - I have a 85 character string or characters.  I have no idea what I did but it looks to me as the first part is an address and the second a key.  The first character is a 1 ( unless its a lower case L , Im open to any possibility now).  I know I cant post the whole thing but Im stuck here so this is what I have without compromising it.

85 characters - this is how it looks

1NeGXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX x VKudme       ( I put a space on the lower case x as its written it looks like it could be part of the sting or a seperator )
( s or 5 ) KRovXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
2q880XXXXXXX

If there is a better way to securly put this that would be easier on you guys let me know.  Just didnt want to put too much info.



Thanks

It appear that is a legacy address. paste the address in this explorer and see if the coins are there https://www.blockchain.com

Someone should correct me if i'm wrong, but i am fairly certain that it is NOT possible to put a password on a mnemonic seed. That'd be a first for me.

EDIT: See the answers below. It may very well be that you encrypted your mnemonic. Apologies.



This could be a legacy adress, as it is 34 chars, starting with a 1.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/List_of_address_prefixes



Could be an (un)compressed private key? (It's missing 1 character though?) Although, you mentioned you had 85 characters. 85-34= 51, which means that this is probably indeed an uncompressed privkey. I don't get where the K is coming from though, if that's the case.

(EDIT: I now just saw the "(S or 5)" part.. This is an uncompressed private key, for sure.) The K confused me for a bit longer than i am willing to admit. ::)

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key

It possible to add 13th or 25th word which acts as a password without which you won't get access to your desired wallet (different word will cause generation of completely different addresses). However, it is not the same as wallet encryption available in Electrum (I am not sure about other clients because I haven't used any of them much).

If your wallet shows you that the mnemonic is valid, but doesn't show any transaction history, chances are relatively high that you had a 'password' (or better: a so-called 25th word) added to your seed.

This 25th word acts similar to a salt, giving your seed some additional 'security mechanism'.

So, if you added such an additional word to your seed, and are now restoring it without this word, you are effectively generating a different set of private-/public- keys.
This word is mandatory to generate the same private-/public- keys to access your funds.

It would appear you aren't entirely familiar with BIP39 (https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki) and how seed mnemonics work then... For reference:



The ability to add passphrases to BIP39 seed mnemonics is the basis for the "Plausible Deniability":
Which, as pointed out by bob123 and BitCryptex, is a possible reason why the OP has a "valid" seed with no history... without the correct seed passphrase, they'll be unable to recover their wallet.

Thanks. Not sure how i haven't seen this earlier.

---

You reckon that this guide is more or less what you're describing in the above quote? https://github.com/libbitcoin/libbitcoin-explorer/wiki/How-to-Encrypt-a-Wallet-Seed#using-key-encryption

Is there a list of wallets that support encrypted mnemonics? I don't think for instance Electrum does?

You can extend your seed with a custom passphrase while creating a new wallet. Just click Options and select Extend this seed with custom words. After clicking next, you will have to input your additional word. Electrum warns user that it is not the same as encrypting the wallet file.

https://i.imgur.com/npeLng6.png

Yes... it would appear that is doing the same thing (in the "Using Mnemonics" section (https://github.com/libbitcoin/libbitcoin-explorer/wiki/How-to-Encrypt-a-Wallet-Seed#using-mnemonics)). I confirmed it by using the mnemonic generated and the example passphrase in IanColeman's BIP39 tool (https://iancoleman.io/bip39/), it generates the same BIP32 Root Key.

The thing to remember with Seed Mnemonic Passphrases, is that you're not really "encrypting" the seed as such... rather, you are just "extending" it. Hence the nomenclature used by Electrum ("Extend this seed with custom words").

Off the top of my head:
- Electrum
- Mycelium
- Samourai
- Ledger
- Trezor
- Coinomi

There are probably a few others.


apologies for the thread drift!  :-\