Wallet recovery - help needed

[danieleither]

I have 2 x Bitcoin wallets. A coinbase wallet for receiving mining revenue (short-term storage), and a Trezor hardware wallet which I use for long-term storage. I access the Coinbase wallet on my iPhone.

Today I tried to do my weekly transfer from the Coinbase wallet to my hardware wallet however I failed the fingerprint scan 3 times in a row (due to a scratch on my thumb) which has locked me out of the Coinbase wallet on my iPhone. The app said I would need to close it, log out and back in to my device before I can try again. I followed these instructions, however when I opened the Coinbase app it said I needed to recover my wallet. Unfortunately I do not have the recovery phrase written down for the Coinbase wallet, only for the hardware wallet. Yes, I'm an idiot.

There are no backups on iCloud for the Coinbase wallet.

Is there a way to recover this (from the iPhone point of view) or is the wallet lost forever?

Perhaps some sort of recovery software that may be able to access the required data on the iPhone?

The only information I have is the wallet address, and a transaction history from both the mining pool I use and my hardware wallet.

[Csmiami]

Have you tried accessing coinbase from its web version? AFAIK the only thing it asks to login is the email and the password; and you can recover passwords directly on your email. It may send you a SMS to "verify" it's you if have enabled SMS 2FA, but other than that, I don't even remember receiving a recovery phrase on coinbase when I registered (maybe older wallets did?)

[OmegaStarScream]

Have you tried accessing coinbase from its web version? AFAIK the only thing it asks to login is the email and the password; and you can recover passwords directly on your email. It may send you a SMS to "verify" it's you if have enabled SMS 2FA, but other than that, I don't even remember receiving a recovery phrase on coinbase when I registered (maybe older wallets did?)

He's referring to this app[1] (formerly Toshi) and not the main one[2]. The first wallet gives you control over your private keys, so there is no way to recover it without the backup[3] phrase.

@OP I'm afraid there isn't much you can do to get your funds back

[1] https://apps.apple.com/app/coinbase-wallet/id1278383455?ls=1
[2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/coinbase-buy-sell-bitcoin/id886427730
[3] https://blog.coinbase.com/backup-your-private-keys-on-google-drive-and-icloud-with-coinbase-wallet-3c3f3fdc86dc

[bob123]

[...] I failed the fingerprint scan 3 times in a row (due to a scratch on my thumb) which has locked me out of the Coinbase wallet on my iPhone.

Another reason to not rely on cheap bio-metrical security measurement.

It is relatively easy to fool such a fingerprint scanner. Especially if they are extremely cheap (which is the case when they are built into smart phones).
A 4 digit pin is more secure and more reliable.

Perhaps some sort of recovery software that may be able to access the required data on the iPhone?

As far as i understood you, you can no longer unlock your wallet, but you need to restore it.
And in this case the data should already be deleted.

You could have done that while the data still was available (getting the encrypted file and getting the decryption key from the secure enclave).
But if the only way to access your wallet is to restore it with a mnemonic code or any other form of backup, the relevant data should already be deleted and its unfortunately no longer recoverable.

[Lucius]

Today I tried to do my weekly transfer from the Coinbase wallet to my hardware wallet however I failed the fingerprint scan 3 times in a row (due to a scratch on my thumb) which has locked me out of the Coinbase wallet on my iPhone.

Did that wallet only have a fingerprint as a lock/unlock option? Usually this option is accompanied by a PIN, which is then used when several times in a row we fail to unlock the screen or app. What I have on my smartphone is the fingerprint lock option, but in order to use it you must first set a PIN which is really the only logical solution.

This is a really stupid way to lose access to your crypto wallet, with of course no backup to save this mess. Yet you are not the only one who has lost access to your wallet due to a fingerprint issue, here's another one : Lost coins due to fingerprint scanner glitch

[bob123]

1) Contact Coinbase.

They can't help OP, because they don't have any access to the private keys.
It is not their exchange application.

2) Visit Nearest Apple Support Center - they can help you.

3) Try 3rd Party Recovery Softwares, many are available in the market Free and Paid - stellarinfo is one of them but they offer paid service

Highly unlikely this will result in recovery.
OP might have a chance using this if 1) his mobile is rooted or 2) the application was installed on an SD card.
If neither is the case, recovering lost data (and especially data purposely deleted by an application) is not that easy feasible.

[keychainX]

I have 2 x Bitcoin wallets. A coinbase wallet for receiving mining revenue (short-term storage), and a Trezor hardware wallet which I use for long-term storage. I access the Coinbase wallet on my iPhone.

Today I tried to do my weekly transfer from the Coinbase wallet to my hardware wallet however I failed the fingerprint scan 3 times in a row (due to a scratch on my thumb) which has locked me out of the Coinbase wallet on my iPhone. The app said I would need to close it, log out and back in to my device before I can try again. I followed these instructions, however when I opened the Coinbase app it said I needed to recover my wallet. Unfortunately I do not have the recovery phrase written down for the Coinbase wallet, only for the hardware wallet. Yes, I'm an idiot.

There are no backups on iCloud for the Coinbase wallet.

Is there a way to recover this (from the iPhone point of view) or is the wallet lost forever?

Perhaps some sort of recovery software that may be able to access the required data on the iPhone?

The only information I have is the wallet address, and a transaction history from both the mining pool I use and my hardware wallet.

You can use third party software to clone your phone and byte scan your iphone image, but it depends how coinbase is storing your keys on the phone.

Icloud usually is a dead end as it by default do not backup third party apps ( had similar case by jaxx wallet).

If you dont know what software tool to use try disk drill by cleverfiles, they have a free optiom to let you see what file it can recover before you buy the full package. Have succesfully recovered ios data using it.

Good luck
/KX

[bob123]

But if the Coinbase application didn't delete OP's wallet on iPhone storage and merely ask recovery phrase to prevent brute-force, it's possible Coinbase update their application to allow OP try biometric authentication again.

This would be quite a loose security concept.
But i guess the possibility exists.

However, i doubt that coinbase would update the application for OP.

IMO this thread shows two important points:
1) Always have a backup stored securely and
2) Do not rely on biometric security on a smartphone