Unconfirmed Transaction from Ancient MultiBit Wallet after years of neglect

[1Shard1]

Hi All,

Bought some Bitcoin in 2013 and put it in to Multibit 05.15

No problems, coins where shown and protected with a BIG password. Then I ignored it until last month. I guess there is a fair few people like me（⌒▽⌒）

Any way without any background knowledge I sent some coin to an address. It has not confirmed and "seen by one peer".

I assume that the network fee on offer would have been fine in 2013, but not now.

I have hit the buttons to search blockexplorer.com and blockchain.inf and the transaction is not found. This has been the situation for a couple of weeks.

I have done a bit of reading. How do I find out if my transaction is really well and truly forgotten by the network?

What is my next move? I speculate that I should wind back the wallet to before the transaction get my keys out and move on.

However there's no harm in asking some advise.
 

[HCP]

Follow the devs tutorial to export your keys to another wallet... https://multibit.org/blog/2017/07/26/multibit-shutdown.html

NOTE: If exporting to the latest version of Electrum, the import option for individual private keys has changed... DON'T use the "Standard wallet -> Use public or private keys" option as demonstrated in the video... use "Import Bitcoin Address or Private Keys".

If it has been a couple of weeks, and your transaction isn't showing on the block explorers like b.info and blockexplorer.com, chances are that a lot of nodes have already dropped your transaction.

Just export your keys, import them into a more modern wallet (like Electrum) and try your transaction again. Be aware that fees are A LOT higher than in 2013, so you might get some price shock when you see the recommended fees

https://bitcoinfees.earn.com/ and https://btc.com/stats/unconfirmed-tx

[1Shard1]

Thanks,

I think fees are more in the $20 region or so I have heard. That's ok.

Out of interest if the network hasn't forgotten and I suffer some sort of double spend problem is that recoverable?

I suppose the ultimate question is can coin be rendered unrecoverable from mismanaging this sort predicament?

Cheers

[HCP]

I think fees are more in the $20 region or so I have heard. That's ok.

We obviously have different ideas of "OK" fees hahahah

Out of interest if the network hasn't forgotten and I suffer some sort of double spend problem is that recoverable?

Yes. Nodes will either reject your double spend attempt or accept the new transaction (if they have dropped the original). If it is rejected, you're no worse off... it it is accepted, then technically either one of the transactions could be confirmed if they still exist within a nodes mempool.

I suppose the ultimate question is can coin be rendered unrecoverable from mismanaging this sort predicament?

Not really. The possible outcomes are:

1. New transaction gets rejected by nodes as a double-spend, Original transaction should either get dropped eventually or confirmed.
2. Original transaction gets dropped by some nodes, new transaction gets accepted by these nodes, either transaction could get accepted.
3. Original transaction gets dropped by all nodes, new transaction gets accepted and (hopefully) confirmed.

As long as you continue to control the private keys, you will (eventually) have control over the coins again (assuming you were actually sending them to yourself and not someone else )

[1Shard1]

Cheers

[1Shard1]

Hello,

I reset the blockchain in Multibit Classic to the day before my stuck transaction. The stuck transaction went away but strangely the Wallet balance did not return to the previous balance. It shows zero.

I have followed the video. My Multibit Classic wallet exports the private keys to a file that looks exactly like the file in the video. I exported without password protection as in the vid.

When I copy and paste the key in to the specified box in the Electrum import the next button does not become active. I have been careful to both have the trailing one space character as shown in the vid and not have it there.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Cheers

[HCP]

Unfortunately that video is a little outdated... the import options in Electrum changed slightly after the video was made.

When you create the new wallet... don't select "Standard wallet"... select "Import Bitcoin Addresses or Private Keys":


You will be able to copy/paste your keys there and click "next"

[1Shard1]

SUCCESS!!

Thanks.

My next task is to pay enough to get a transaction thru. I will consult the pinned post on avoiding a stuck TX.

Thanks again.

Bye the way a dev at work explained the whole thing properly to me. The local wallet can say anything but the ledger is what really counts. In essence I had a key export problem.