Bitcoin Forum

So, I have a multiSig wallet created using Electrum.
2/2
I have 12 words seed and extended seed for extra layer or security.

I have the addresses but since this is a multiSig wallet, the addresses do not have separate private keys.

Hypothetical question:
If anything happen with Electrum wallet (Let's say they stop working for the community) then how will I recover my wallet?

I hope I am not asking a stupid question :-P

Cheers :-)

Hi,

you should be able to recover your private key using any wallet that support bip39.

Heisenberg_Hunter posted a handful of wallets supporting BIP39 over here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5112183.msg49832671#msg49832671

Alternatively there also tools such as this:
https://iancoleman.io/bip39/

However I only would use an online tool handling private keys after disconnecting from the internet and with the intent of moving coins onto a new allet.

However I'm not sure whether Electrum (especially older versions) use the same standard for extended seeds / passphrases as for example Trezor and Ledger hardware wallets. That is, while 12 / 24 word seed phrases are standard, I'm not quite sure whether the usage of a 13th / 25th seed word is the same across all BIP39 wallets. Maybe someone else has deeper insight on Electrum's implementation of BIP39 in this regard?

You can use Mycelium to recover. I think it's also possible with copay.io (https://github.com/bitpay/copay), although I've never used this wallet.

Just to confirm...

You have 2x Electrum "standard" wallets... each with 12 word + "extra word" Electrum seed mnemonics. You then created a 2-of-2 MultiSig wallet, using those two Electrum seed mnemonics as the (co-)signer keys. Is that correct? ???

If so, as long as you have those two Electrum seed mnemonics, you can convert them to Master Private Keys (or individual private keys) and then recreate the multisig addresses from those in another compatible wallet.

Unfortunately, finding a compatible wallet will be problematic. Electrum uses a proprietary seed system, so converting from "seed mnemonic -> master private key" (or "seed mnemonic -> private keys") will not be possible using a BIP39 wallet as suggested by others... certainly, it won't work with Mycelium, any of the wallets mentioned above... or the "normal" Ian Coleman BIP39 tool.

At present, the only way I know of to get from an Electrum seed -> Master Private Key (or private keys) is using Electrum with no password/file encryption and extracting the xprv from the unencrypted wallet file... OR by using a modified version of the Ian Coleman Tool, made to work with Electrum seeds (https://github.com/FarCanary/ElectrumSeedTester).


Technically, all you need is the (in your specific case, two) private keys that match the public keys used to make each address... everything else (public keys, redeem script etc) can be derived from those private keys.


Due to the Electrum seeds not being BIP39 compatible, it would not be a nice easy "copy/paste seed(s)->recreate wallet->send coins" type of recovery. However, while it isn't exactly straight forward... it isn't impossible either.

The algorithm used by Electrum to actually create MultiSig addresses is the same as other wallets... so, as long as you can access the private keys used to create your MultiSig address, there are other MultiSig capable wallets like Bitcoin Core or services like coinb.in (https://coinb.in/) that will allow you to recreate the multisig addresses. Although, you would possibly only be able to do one address at a time, as I'm not currently aware of any wallets (other than Electrum) that can create "HD" MultiSig wallets by using xprv's... ???

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Electrum seed mnemonics ARE NOT BIP39 compatible. So, unfortunately, none of these solutions will work to get from Electrum seed -> private key(s)

Hypothetically, every trace of Electrum being deleted (even offline copies) is too far fetched.
However...... you don't even need another tool to recover the funds in those multisig addresses.

Here's my answer:
Always keep an offline backup of the last Electrum executable/installer, together with your wallet file if you want and you're safe.
How? With offline copies, even without any working servers, you can still create and sign transactions and broadcast it to any online bitcoin broadcaster sites (there are tons of them) or to any other bitcoin wallets (almost all supports broadcasting raw tx).
If you ever forgotten to make a backup of Electrum, others might happen to have a copy at least.

That said, you don't have to worry about your coins getting locked in case Electrum cease to exist.

I have a 2/2 multiSig wallet with 2 signer key.
One installed in one PC and another one installed in another PC.

It's segwit by the way.

PC1: Cosigner key2, seed1, extended seed1
PC2: Cosigner key1, seed2, extended seed2

Whenever I want to broadcast a transaction I sign it from PC1 then export the file and load in in PC2. Then finally I sign it from the PC2.


Anyway, I already have my answers. Thanks everyone especially you and nc50lc.

Cheers :-)

You cannot rely on any other software, website or service to recover this wallet. If you're worried electrum might disappear you should  archive a copy of electrum as well.

BTW this is a common question. For some reason people are very worried electrum might disappear. For example just a few days ago: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5118731

Thanks for the link. It was a good read and learn. I did not notice that topic before. The question came in mind out of the blue. So I had to share it with the community to get my answer.