Not entirely sure telling someone to override an AV quarantine on an executable file of dubious origins is really a good idea unless they know exactly what they're doing and how to deal with it properly... it's just as likely that the entire .zip file was actually "acquired" from a scammer/phishing site promising "bIg DoLlaZ!!!11!!1!!!" and that the passworddecoder is actually malware designed to install a RAT or clipboard hijacker or steal private keys/wallets etc.

Granted, Windows Defender can be a bit overzealous at times (it still often flags Electrum as being "suspect", regardless of how many times I report it as "Safe" )... but still, unless the OP has a VM they can play with it in... they should not just be blindly removing files from quarantine.

Most likely because it was in relation to storing his Nano S seed after he moved from Electrum. I would agree that he is quite prolific... but not really a spammer in the traditional sense. The guy just has a lot of questions a lot of anxiety/paranoia.

At a protocol level... that is correct, addresses do not "expire".

However, some services/exchanges use "one time" addresses for receiving deposits. Often, once a deposit has arrived, they no longer "actively monitor" that address... so if you send a 2nd deposit, it won't automatically be credited and you need to contact support to get them to manually credit you.

Also, you have retailers using BitPay, which usually requires "seeing" a transaction broadcast within 10 minutes... and that the transaction is confirmed within a set time frame or the entire deal will be void. To really complicate things, BitPay will generally only send funds back to the address from which it was sent (if a transaction is voided), so if you send directly from an exchange to BitPay and it "times out", BitPay will want to send the funds back to the exchange itself (and not your deposit address) and then you're stuck trying to deal with the Exchange support team to recover your coins

The payment request facility within Electrum is part of it's BIP70 support... which specifies a time at which the payment request should be considered "invalid":

Honestly, none of that looks like it has anything to do with Electrum... The "Bitcoin" one might be an encrypted wallet file, but I suspect that it's likely just encrypted text (possibly private keys or the seed) which you need to use the "passworddecoder" app to decrypt.

Do you have any memory of how you created this .zip file and/or how it ended up in your mega.nz account?

Firstly... make a couple of copies of that .zip file as backup... Then you can experiment to your hearts content.

If the files don't have any extensions to them... they *might* be wallet files... but that .zip is certainly not just the contents of the Electrum data directory zipped up... it's missing a lot of stuff... Are you able to take a screenshot of the contents of the .zip file... upload it to somewhere like imgur.com and then paste the link here?

It'll give everyone a much better idea of what we're dealing with.

Agreed... if the OPs statement:
means what I believe it means... that is "There was a transaction that I did not create that sent my entire balance somewhere", then things like Gap Limits, 2FA and BIP39 passphrases/Electrum extended seed words etc are not going to be the cause.

The seed phrase/private keys (or wallet file & password) were compromised and the Bitcoins were stolen... or the OP actually did send the coins out and just doesn't remember doing it. Those are the only 2 explanations.

Exactly how the wallet was compromised will be something the OP will need to investigate... checking where Electrum was downloaded from, did they get a "security warning" popup message in Electrum telling them to update?, do they remember entering their seed in an Electrum "clone" or a website to claim BCH/BSV/BTD/BTG/BTCP fork coins? etc

You'll need to update to the latest version of Electrum... 3.0.2 will not be able to connect and sync to the servers properly.

Follow DireWolf's excellent guide here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.msg54223763#msg54223763

It really depends on how you want it setup... if you just want Armory in a "standard" windows location (ie. the "C:\Program Files" directory) along with all your other apps and to have the Windows Start menu icons automatically created etc, then you should use the Windows Installer. If you want to run it from a portable USB drive, then the standalone would be the way to go.

If you want to use a custom install location... then either will work... but the installer is probably easier and, again, it will automatically create the Start menu icons etc.

Firstly, thanks for the update... always good to hear how it worked out (positive or negative).


Sending from blockchain.com to an exchange should not be a problem. Create an account at an exchange, get a deposit address (ensuring your select the BTC wallet address on the exchange and not some Bitcoin fork like BSV or BCH etc), then create your send transaction on Blockchain.com.

Just be wary of what the Bitcoin network activity when you go to send and set your transaction fee accordingly. Blockchain.com has a pretty bad fee algorithm... so you'd be wise to use a "custom" fee and then look at:
https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#BTC,24h
https://mempool.space/
https://bitcoiner.live/

to get an idea of what you'll need to pay based on how quickly you want the transaction confirmed... or how long you might have to wait if you want to send cheaply.


As for, "The best exchange"™... that will depend greatly on your particular circumstances and your locale... some exchanges do not allow users from certain locations (countries or even specific states in the US) due to various laws and regulations. Additionally, not all exchanges will allow you to withdraw to your bank etc.

Finally, be prepared to have to walk the KYC/AML regulation trail... you'll probably need to hand over various ID, take selfies holding them and give all your personal details like address/phone etc to create an account and cash out even relatively modest amounts of fiat. Note that trying to provide false information can lead to your account being locked and a lot of hassles.

All the stories I could find seemed to indicate that the safety deposit box heists weren't really targeted at all... thieves just broke into the vault and drilled as many boxes as they could and took anything and everything of value.

That being the case, I'm not even sure most thieves would see anything other than a notebook and just toss it in favour of taking cash, jewels and other assorted things that are obviously resellable etc.

But, given how "mainstream" Bitcoin has become... you never know... maybe the more astute thieves are on the lookout for 12/24 word seeds these days?

Excellent... one problem solved!


Ok... do note that this will require some 350-400Gigs worth of storage space available on the drive where Bitcoin Core is storing the blocks. If you don't have this storage space available, you'll need to either move the storage to a bigger drive or perhaps use an external drive for block storage (not recommended due to I/O bottlenecks on external drives slowing down syncing)

You are also going to need to redownload and reverify the entire blockchain again This will likely take a "long time"™

Correct... Your Bitcoin Core is probably not configured to enable the RPC server. By default, running Bitcoin Core GUI does not switch this on.

- Shutdown Armory and Bitcoin Core
- add the following to your bitcoin.conf file:
- Start Bitcoin Core and let it fully sync
- Start Armory

Also, is your Bitcoin Core running in "pruned" mode? Check "Settings -> Options -> Main" and see if the "Prune block storage" option is ticked (or if you have a "prune=" line in your bitcoin.conf file). If you have either of these things, then Armory will not work properly.

If you're still having issues after adding the server=1 line and ensuring that Bitcoin Core is not in pruned mode... you'll need to post your logs (copy/paste the contents of your armorylog.txt and dbLog.txt to https://pastebin.com/ click "create new paste", then copy/paste the uniquely generated URL here)

According to their website they don't use any social media, so your support options seem to be rather limited support@mycelium.com seems to be the one contact they offer.

However, if it's an issue with the Mycelium wallet app, you might also be able to raise an issue on "Github": https://github.com/mycelium-com/wallet-android/issues

Have you tried the solution detailed here: https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003117594-Troubleshoot-firmware-update

Click to expand the "MCU firmware is not genuine" section and follow the steps outlined.

Failing that, have you tried contacting Ledger support? Do not expect a "fast" response time given that they are probably still dealing with the huge level of support tickets raised after the data leak last year... but they will be the people most likely to be able to assist with determining why your device is showing that message, and what you can do about it.

What is with the obsession with safe deposit boxes? and also with what everyone else is doing?

You've been told repeatedly... figure out what your particular level of risk acceptance is and find a solution that matches that... safe deposit boxes aren't for everybody... and I would actually guess the vast majority of people don't actually use them... especially given that they are getting harder and harder to actually find (given banks keep closing branches and don't usually install safety deposit vaults in new branches etc)

I mean, the irony of using Bitcoin to get free of the traditional banking system... only to rely on (and pay!) the traditional banking system to secure your funds?

As for being broken into... safety deposit boxes are usually not in a publicly accessible area and generally require monitored access to open the locked storage compartment and will then generally provide a private area for you to place or retrieve items from the box itself.

This NY Times story from a couple of years ago indicates that out of 19000 bank robberies, over a number of years, in the US, only 44 involved safety deposit boxes...

It might also be worth trying to connect your Trezor to "Sparrow" Wallet (https://sparrowwallet.com/) and see if it is able to work directly with the older firmware. You might get lucky and be able to just create and sign the transaction without needing to mess about with unsigned transactions etc.

Likely to be either:

- Ledger servers being overloaded (not suprising given the massive upswing in value, it always generates a lot of activity) and their system not refreshing your data correctly.
or
- You have been using multiple accounts previously, and you haven't re-added those accounts to Ledger Live


Electrum is likely to be more "reliable" from a data retrieval perspective... but if you've been using multiple "accounts" in Ledger Live, will require that you create multiple wallets in Electrum.

If you have an Android device, you can try using Mycelium app... it supports BIP38 encrypted paper wallets.

That is essentially correct.

In both instances, you still need to bruteforce 12 words to get the actual seed phrase... So, you're working with a 2028^12 search space... which is 5444517870735015415413993718908291383296.

Did you not try the suggestions from your previous thread? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5320649.0

You should be able to install Cygwin on the offline machine which will give you the ability to use "bash" scripts... instructions for an offline install are here: https://wincrunch.com/cygwin-offline-installer-download-windows-7-8-10-xp-vista/