Is your friend sure the address got generated and shown by cryptopia?
Can you tell your friend to verify the website he used (non-malicious, original website?)
And are you sure there is no clipping malware installed?
Did he try to copy/paste an address?

For example, try to copy this address: 1JaTmUSZEdYubYuR7SKEH1Y8PgmDM2FtHc and paste it into notepad.
Does it work properly?

If he used the correct website and has no clipping malware on his PC, the support is the only one who can help with this problem.

An 'address' is a 160 binary number. This, of course, can be encoded in any format.
Just like it is done with the displayed addresses (Base 58 encoding).

But to be able to gain access over the funds sent to the address you need the private key (256 bit binary number), which also can be encoded into *any* format.


The question is wether you want to put it into a depot box.
It matters on how much you trust the phsysical security of this box.

If you want to keep it away from everyones knowledge, such a storage might not be the best idea.

Did you try to reinstall coinomi?
It sounds strange that you get connection errors after already successfully transfering 2 out of 4 wallets out.

What other wallets did you try?

Regarding your connection issue:
Did you try the mobile wallets with your wifi connection or mobile connection?

This was never possible.
A lot of people confused their BTC/bcash addresses and sent their coins to an address (on the same chain).
This was a problem for exchange deposits, who were only monitoring the corresponding chain for this address.

Replay protection was implemented to distinguish between BTC- and bcash transactions.
Before replay protection it was possible to take a (feshly broadcasted) bcash transaction and broadcast it into the btc network (and vice versa).
This would have led to 'the same' transaction being mined on the other chain.

Not very exchange is requiring verification.
Especially not for crypto-to-crypto trades.

If the attacker is somewhat competent he probably used an exchange without verification with a proxy to exchange the btc to an anonymous currency (e.g. monero).
From there on it would be a pretty easy task to sell those monero on an exchange which complies with the KYC policy.

I don't think pywallet will do the trick here.
This project hasn't got an update since 4 years now.

It doesn't work properly with new wallet files since there are parameters inside which are not understood by this tool.

If you want to quickly access your coins you can import [1] (or better: sweep[2]) your BTC's into electrum.

[1] https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/
[2] https://bitcoinelectrum.com/sweeping-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

Note: https://electrum.org is the only (original) electrum domain.


If you further want to use core, you can try to create a new wallet and import/sweep the dumped private key into this wallet.
This issue might come from a old wallet.dat.

You can find another one for P2SH (starting with 3..) here: https://github.com/kristapsk/segvan.
And one for bech32 (starting with bc1..) here: https://github.com/tomatpasser/bech32-vanitygen-helper.

You don't have to store the private keys / seed on your online server just to create new addresses.
You could simply use the Master public key. Public keys (and therefore addresses) can be dervied from this key, without the risk of private keys getting exposed/compromised.





This can definetely be done. It does not expose any private keys to theft.

Theoretically: Just as long as it takes for the packets to travel through the network + the time it needs to be processed by the processors.
Since there is no need to wait for a block being mined there shouldn't be any other factors which have an influence.

Or (to get back to topic): Just use a hardware wallet.
This does not require to remove the most used (and probably most needed) software on a pc.

A pc without browser/email/etc..  is a neither a cold storage nor an online pc someone wants to use.

There is a difference between safety and security.
Regarding crashes, stolen phone, etc. this is a reason for the PC being safer to use.
But i would not call a PC more secure than a mobile.

Android is utilizing a linux kernel. With proper settings a mobile can be just as secured (and even more secure) than a windows pc.
The security mostly depends on the hardware/software used and on the configuration.

Generally, you should always have the newest version.

Practically, there has not been any exploit/vulnerability/whatsoever found. So its not mandatory to update the firmware (but still recommended).

The key-elements of the update are the following:

• Improving user pin security
  Instead of starting with '5' when entering pin it is now randomized
  This prevents from people nearby you to count the clicks
• Improving recovery phrase security:
  Starting letter of seed is not 'A' anymore, but also randomized
  Same reason as above
• Getting rid of confusing error messages
• Improving application checks

You can read more from ledgers post: https://www.ledger.fr/2018/04/17/announcing-ledger-firmware-1-4-2/

Where do you get your address from (in electrum) ?
The receive-tab should always give you a new address (if the prior one has alread received funds).

May it be possible that you are always using the top address from the address-tab?


Electrum is a TOP 2 wallet (together with core), imo.

If OP's PC is only infected with a clipping malware, yes. The seed should be fine.
But due to the fact that he can't open the command line (closing automatically), he probably does not only have a clipping- , but a more dangerous malware.

With what kind of malware his pc got infected can only be said after fastidiously inspecting his computer.

I would definetely also recommend to use a new seed. Better safe than sorry.

MEW is just as secured as any other online wallet is (wether it is blockchain.info, coinbase, etc..  doesnt matter).
With an compromised PC the only (relatively) secure way of accessing coins is to use a hardware wallet.
I would never consider to use a web- or desktop wallet on an infected PC.

I think the LN is definetely a good way for realizing such a MMO currency system.

But i doubt wether this is what game publisher want.
They could simply use a centralized system (e.g. buy ingame currency with btc) to earn more from people who aren't even going to spend every last 'cent'.
It is definetely more lucrative for them to realize it that way than using a decentralized system.

At the current state the LN is not ready yet. It is still in beta and still has to be proven stable and secure before it is going to be used for 'mainstream' payments.

This indicates that you have a clipping malware which also does restrict your access to the OS (therefore the automatic exit command when starting the command line).

You should do what Xynerise suggested (backing up important data and format your drive) as soon as possible!

It is NOT necessary to install a unix OS. Windows is fine. You just have to take the right security precautions.

1) Install a good AV
2) Never download any suspicious files
3) Keep away from torrents and cracked software, etc..

Can you check wether you have the correct version of electrum (non-malicious)?

The best would be to check the signature, but using a checksum should be fine too.


Do the following:

• Press WIN-key + R
• Type in: cmd
• Run this command: certutil -hashfile C:\path\to\electrum.exe sha256 (Use the path to (1) the electrum installer or (2) the standalone executable (depending on what you are using))
• Compare the output to the hashes below

Hash of the portable version:

Hash for the installer:

This is weird.
This means this address is not part of your wallet.

Did you somehow (maybe by accident) create a second wallet file?

And since you have already received 4 payments to your address, did they at any moment show up in electrum?

Did you download electrum from the official site (https://electrum.org/)?