Block Explorer balance way different to wallet balance

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I swept two paper wallets onto an online wallet earlier today, my blockchain.info wallet balance states just over 35 bitcoin.
I randomly searched the wallets public address on blockchain.info & it says the balance is 0.004 something. I swept these keys a few hours ago now, why is the blockchain.info balance not reflected on several block explorers?
What's going on?

[The Young Turk]

swept
That's the key word here.
Blockchain.info wallets offer you 2 different choices.
1- Swap
2- Import directly.

1- If you swap; then it'll send bitcoins from paper wallet to an internal address which is created by bc.info
2- If you import directly then there'll be no tx.

Probably while swapping keys it left some bitcoins on paper wallet, also your swapping tx'es may be not published to the network yet.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I imported the private keys onto blockchain.info.
The balance is there in my wallet but block explorers are showing me as having fuck all balance.
I do not understand this.

[The Young Turk]

I imported the private keys onto blockchain.info.
The balance is there in my wallet but block explorers are showing me as having fuck all balance.
I do not understand this.

Which option did you choose on that screen?


If you chose sweep (blue button) then the bitcoins in your paper wallet were transferred into your blockchain.info's address and this sweeping process is made via transaction so that's why you have less bitcoins now.
If you share your public addresses I can give you more clear answers.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I just sent 6 bitcoin to - ************ to test it & it let me.
Obviously those 6 bitcoin aren't confirmed atm but my blockchain.info balance is 30 bitcoin but it's telling me I have 0.004 something on all block explorers.
I've never experienced anything like this before.

Edit - I have confirmations now on the 6 sent. So the 36 bitcoins were obviously valid in my blockchain.info wallet, blockchain is weird atm, think I'm going to go back to Core.

[The Young Turk]

1KQ2ZvnRGezVHosYrWx27ftGMPNVR6KKKw

I just sent 6 bitcoin to - 1KKuz69BBdvnKKiGiyJ3Rzv7zqR7F73jZw to test it & it let me.
Obviously those 6 bitcoin aren't confirmed atm but my blockchain.info balance is 30 bitcoin but it's telling me I have 0.004 something on all block explorers.
I've never experienced anything like this before.

It's probably blockchain.info wallet's mistake on "tx fee calculation".
I mean you chose "sweep" option so it chose all unspent inputs on your paper wallet and then sent it to your online wallet's address. While doing that it left some dust behind. If you "import directly" of this (1KQ2ZvnRGezVHosYrWx27ftGMPNVR6KKKw) address's priv key into your bc.info wallet then left over crumbs will be added to your bc.info wallet.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I just sent 6 bitcoin to - ********** to test it & it let me.
Obviously those 6 bitcoin aren't confirmed atm but my blockchain.info balance is 30 bitcoin but it's telling me I have 0.004 something on all block explorers.
I've never experienced anything like this before.

It's probably blockchain.info wallet's mistake on "tx fee calculation".
I mean you chose "sweep" option so it chose all unspent inputs on your paper wallet and then sent it to your online wallet's address. While doing that it left some dust behind. If you "import directly" of this (************) address's priv key into your bc.info wallet then left over crumbs will be added to your bc.info wallet.

Yeah everything seems ok, thanks for your help. I think blockchain.info are having problems atm. I'd advise people to move away from it.
Think it might be time for Multibit or a Trezor possibly.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Forget blockchain.info - don't trust it any more. Moved everything off there now. Going to keep everything in Core & order a trezor.

[odolvlobo]

The is no such thing as a "wallet address". A wallet is not the same as an address. A wallet contains one or more addresses. You are probably just looking at the wrong address.

[TookDk]

I imported the private keys onto blockchain.info.
The balance is there in my wallet but block explorers are showing me as having fuck all balance.
I do not understand this.

Its a common misunderstanding.

Lets say that your wallet contain 1 private key, we will call it A, there is 0.01 BTC of input to A:

Wallet balance = A = 0.01 BTC

If you check the balance of the public address associated with private key A, then will the block explore show 0.01 BTC.

So far so good, very easy to understand.

Now you import private key B and C into your wallet, B = 1 BTC and C = 2 BTC.
The wallet now control 3 private keys: A,B and C.

Wallet balance = A + B + C = 0.01 + 1 + 2 = 3.01 BTC

If you check the balance of the public address associated with private key A, then will the block explore still show 0.01 BTC.
Obviously if you check the public key associated with B it will show 1 BTC.

This can cause a lot of confusion for the average user.

Now if you transfer the whole ballance to a completely new and fresh wallet, lets call it D

Wallet balance (new wallet) = D = 3.01 BTC

The next thing to consider is change addresses, which is used when not moving the entire balance (in realality it is "inputs" and not ballance, but no need to go into that).
This just adds a new level of confusion.

Bottom line, average user should use a reliable wallet, and only concern about the balance.
If you don't want to be an average user, then study how the bitcoin transaction works and how the specific wallet handles them.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I imported the private keys onto blockchain.info.
The balance is there in my wallet but block explorers are showing me as having fuck all balance.
I do not understand this.

Its a common misunderstanding.

Lets say that your wallet contain 1 private key, we will call it A, there is 0.01 BTC of input to A:

Wallet balance = A = 0.01 BTC

If you check the balance of the public address associated with private key A, then will the block explore show 0.01 BTC.

So far so good, very easy to understand.

Now you import private key B and C into your wallet, B = 1 BTC and C = 2 BTC.
The wallet now control 3 private keys: A,B and C.

Wallet balance = A + B + C = 0.01 + 1 + 2 = 3.01 BTC

If you check the balance of the public address associated with private key A, then will the block explore still show 0.01 BTC.
Obviously if you check the public key associated with B it will show 1 BTC.

This can cause a lot of confusion for the average user.

Now if you transfer the whole ballance to a completely new and fresh wallet, lets call it D

Wallet balance (new wallet) = D = 3.01 BTC

The next thing to consider is change addresses, which is used when not moving the entire balance (in realality it is "inputs" and not ballance, but no need to go into that).
This just adds a new level of confusion.

Bottom line, average user should use a reliable wallet, and only concern about the balance.
If you don't want to be an average user, then study how the bitcoin transaction works and how the specific wallet handles them.

Finally that all makes perfect sense.
This explains it all perfectly & that's exactly what happened. Thank you for the superb explanation, very grateful.
 

[tyz]

Most probably is that the blockexplorer and/or your wallet are not fully synchronized. If you use blockchain.info or blocktrail.com, they should always show to most recent state.