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Bitcoin => Bitcoin Technical Support => Topic started by: BitTechNewbie on December 13, 2017, 06:48:02 PM



Title: Need to Retrieve My Bitcoin that were purchased in 2009
Post by: BitTechNewbie on December 13, 2017, 06:48:02 PM
Hi everyone,

I have a weird situation. A friend of mine who just told me they purchased Bitcoin when it first came out. They went to a website that had Satoshi's manifest and purchased some Bitcoin from the site. There were given a private key which they appear to have.

1) They do not have the website they purchased the Bitcoins from
2) They do not have the original computer they purchased the Bitcoins with.
3) They do not have the card the originally purchased the Bitcoins on.


I know this is a shot in the dark, but is there a way with just the private key to be able to recover their Bitcoins?

I would need exactly what is need please, if this is possible.

Thank you,




Title: Re: Need to Retrieve My Bitcoin that were purchased in 2009
Post by: AdolfinWolf on December 13, 2017, 06:52:50 PM
Hi everyone,

I have a weird situation. A friend of mine who just told me they purchased Bitcoin when it first came out. They went to a website that had Satoshi's manifest and purchased some Bitcoin from the site. There were given a private key which they appear to have.

1) They do not have the website they purchased the Bitcoins from
2) They do not have the original computer they purchased the Bitcoins with.
3) They do not have the card the originally purchased the Bitcoins on.


I know this is a shot in the dark, but is there a way with just the private key to be able to recover their Bitcoins?

I would need exactly what is need please, if this is possible.

Thank you,




Yes, this is fairly simple. 
The private key is basically all you need.

Simply import it into a wallet such as Electrum, and your money should show up.Electrum: https://electrum.org/#home

Note that every dollar worth of bitcoin he bought back then, is probably currently worth millions. I'd advise you to be extremely cautious when importing this key. Make sure there are no viruses etc on the device.


Title: Re: Need to Retrieve My Bitcoin that were purchased in 2009
Post by: BitTechNewbie on December 14, 2017, 12:04:30 PM
Thank you AdolfinWolf,

If my friend does use this method I will make sure to warn them about the potential risks of having malware or viruses...etc on their system.

Thank you