How is it encrypted, how did you create it, and what did you use to try to decrypt it?
Does the encrypted private key use BIP38 compression (AKA does it start with 6PR)?

From your description, it's unclear to me what exactly you have there.

You can't just move the files without telling Bitcoin Core where they are. Use this as a startup option:

Use this option:
I don't use Windows 10, but I assume you can still add startup options to any shortcut on your desktop.

That's easy: sell your Bitcoins.

Or, if you want to do it without owning Bitcoins, it's called shorting Bitcoins. Several exchanges offer this, and it's a great way to burn through your money if prices keep rising.

Think about what that means for exchanges: they started trading on a coin without working wallet and without a valid blockchain. It literally means the exchanges forked Bitcoin based on a hype, and if the hype doesn't pan out, it simply disappears.
At least Bittrex is smart enough to wait until the first block is mined.

Some pointers:
1. Make sure the other computer is not connected to the internet
2. Make a backup as soon as possible
3. Make another backup, then just make another one!
4. Think about a plan what to do with the 1 million euro once it's recovered. Considering the fact your only copy now is a broken laptop, you should come up with a safer plan.

Did you use the real website https://shapeshift.io/ or a fake "shapeshifter"?

Vertcoins can't be sent to a Bitcoin address, you'll get this error:

If you used a fake website, your coins are gone. If you used the real website, it shouldn't have gone through. Please clarify.

That depends on how they/you set the fee. Isn't there "send max" button?

This thread somehow changed direction from making a backup or exporting private keys to leaving them entirely.

No matter what you do, always make backups before funding an address, and - just as important - test your backups too.

There was someone else earlier (see my test-link) having the same problem on Windows, and he eventually moved his pruned blockchain to a RAM-drive. That solved his problem.
If you haven't checked the number of read/write-actions to your hdd, you can't rule it out from being the bottleneck.

I'm no export on Windows, but as far as I know most flash drives don't use write cache (to be safe when you suddenly unplug it).

That's not what I experienced. A very simple way to test it: when you start your download, and blocks are still small, there's much less checking per block. At that point I download at the maximum speed my internet connection can deliver. It only slows down later, when blocks require more checking.

You could also use your creditcard. That's irrelevant if I want to use Bitcoin.

It's a combination of both: the network is congested, and wallets automatically try to use "a fast fee". That's why recommended fees can quickly jump from 20 sat/byte to 250 sat/byte. And because most wallets now automatically try to use a "next block"-fee, paying a higher fee doesn't help you get in the next block at all. I recently found a 10 kB transaction with $115 fee, that took 11 hours to confirm. It's outrageous!

Automatic fees are the worst thing for fees ever, and miners earn millions of dollars from it! Without automatic fees, most users would just select for instance 0.1 mBTC, and if you're in a hurry, you'd pick 0.2 mBTC. Note that 0.2 mBTC is already more than a dollar.
With automatic fees, all users pay (say) 1 mBTC, and in the end, since blocks are full anyway, we're still waiting!

I actually have 1LoanShark in my vanity search list for a very long time already. If I ever find it, I'll give it to you.
The more long prefixes I add, the more likely it becomes I will eventually hit some of them. Of course, you should never trust anyone, and never use it, but even so: it's would be cool to have

Yes, he can. And that's why you should never trust a private key that someone else knows.
And even if OP is just too trusty and naive, and even if he wouldn't steal your funds, you'll also have to trust his computer, and his email provider or whatever he uses to send you the private key.

Long story short: make your own private keys.
If you want 1Sweet, I'd be happy to make it for you, in a safe way. I've been offering a free secure pretty addy service since April last year. If you want 1Sweetbtc, I can't help you, as it will likely take years to find.

From the way you put it, you're either dumb or a scammer. Rule number one in crypto club: trust nobody with your private keys!

If you don't have much experience with Linux, I suggest to just try a few distributions. I've had several of them, I especially didn't like what Ubuntu did to the GUI, so I left them. You could try Kubuntu too, or Elementary OS, or Linux Mint, or Arch Linux, or CentOS. There's also the "classics" like Red Hat, Mandrake, Debian and Fedora.
In general, they're all quite safe, but some focus more on security than others. But if you have some time to spare, I recommend to just try a few and see which one fits your needs.

I'm pretty sure you can just copy it, but I'd prefer to just let it run from scratch.

For what it's worth: I'm just as paranoid running Linux. I actually consider it a good default, don't ever assume your computer is safe!

Of course that's the key, but my point is still valid: it all depends on your PC.
Downloading to an SSD is much faster than downloading to a hdd.

That being said, my test also showed downloading a pruned chain on ramdrive did less blocks per minute than downloading blocks to my full chain on hdd. It took 70 seconds for 11 hours of blocks, that's about 1 block per second (see my test).
I don't really want to spend the time to do a full test, but from this small test, I extrapolate I can download a full blockchain to my hdd in 2-3 days.

I have no experience on Windows though, especially a system low on RAM can take much longer.

I've seen and tested coinb.in before, but didn't realize I can use it to sign a transaction on an offline PC. I tried making a new transaction (with some random addresses I found in recent blocks), and it does work, but seems a bit too "die hard" for me. This seems like a good way to mess up and send a huge amount as fee.
Also, I can't figure out how to sign with more than one private key.
Thanks for mentioning the option, but I don't feel comfortable using it.

Flashing my own firmware still makes it something I can't verify on my own.

Username: dsffdssdf

I'll try to hit the 20 billionth bet too.



Damn that looks like mine! Let me guess: you hit the keyboard a few times with your left hand too?

I've been thinking about creating a pruned_Bitcoin.zip for a while now. It will be around 3 GB (uncompressed), as I think the chainstate directory has to be included. All I need to do this, is a simple VPS.
But, I see two main problems:
1. Anybody who downloads it has to trust me. Unlike a full blockchain, a pruned blockchain can't be rescanned.
2. I could set up a VPS, but I don't have the skill to be absolutely sure it won't get compromised. Or the hoster could give someone access after social engineering.

The reason I would like to offer it though, is that Bitcoin Core is the most basic wallet, and I consider it a good thing if more people are able to verify their own transactions.
Recently, someone gave me a zip of all 20 million Bitcoin addresses with balance. Read that again: just 20 million addresses! Uncompressed, that's just 800 MB. If you'd add details on all individual outputs, it may rise to a few GB.
If - in the future - a pruned Bitcoin Core can read TXID-data from just a database, you don't have to prune all blocks, you just have to keep a record of all balances. Once you have that, 10 GB may be enough to be able to verify all transactions in existing wallet.dat files.

The minimum for a pruned blockchain is 550 blocks (4 days) of data. If you'd download a pruned blockchain as a .zip, you could just wait four days to have all downloaded data replaced by new data already. I'm not sure how secure that would be though.

I think Core would still force a reindex even if the wallet.dat is newly generated. Without all the blocks, the client will not be able to retrieve all the transactions associated with a specific address.[/quote]
I can tell you from personal experience that a pruned blockchain doesn't require a rescan to create a new wallet. There's no point to check if new addresses hold any balance.

I confirm, after checking the address in the Letter of Guarantee: no deposit arrived.

That's very likely, small amoungs to through, big amounts are taken.

Can you open a topic in Scam Accusations? If you do, post the link here, and I'll confirm I checked your Letter of Guarantee in the Accusation thread.
It's up to you how much details you want to share.

As far as I understand, you can just install Bitcoin Core and -rescan the database:
Assuming you download a legit Bitcoin Core, it will verify all blocks on your disk and you can be absolutely sure you have a legit blockchain.

That being said, I wouldn't use this myself, I'm totally fine letting Bitcoin Core download it's own blocks.

As a test, I recently downloaded a full blockchain (pruned to a RAM drive) in less than 24 hours, on a several years old PC with an average internet connection. Given the fact that I can do this, your bottleneck must be related to your PC or internet connection.

On June 24, 2013, 1 Bitcoin was worth £64.48 (check bitcoinaverage, set graph to GBP and zoom/scroll). Your £2.50 would have been 0.03877171 BTC at that rate, currently worth £171.11.

Don't give up yet, find back whatever wallet you used and enjoy the best ROI you ever made!

When you're talking about 150gigs, I assume you're talking about Bitcoin Core. I use Bitcoin Core, I have some Watch-only addresses in there, but (with Coin Control Features enabled), it doesn't let me select them. What would I have to do to create a transaction in this hot wallet, to sign offline?
Being able to do this would be a very nice addition to my current setup.

I'm still not comfortable with the fact that I'd have to trust the hardware wallet manufacturer completely, as it's a black box and I can't see it's inner workings. And storing backup seed words gives the same risks as an unencrypted paper wallet.

I am quite confident they're safe too, but even 99.99% is still a risk. Recently the Antminer backdoor was discovered, who knows what comes out many years from now.
The easiest way I know to be absolutely sure I don't have anyone to trust, is creating my own private key from throwing a dice many times. But this is too annoying to do every time.