Importing Paper wallet to Electrum - Decrypt the Private Key

[Kakmakr]

I have been importing Paper wallets into Electrum for a while now and recently saw this guys method of doing it and I started questioning my own method. - https://thecleverest.com/importing-bitcoin-from-a-paper-wallet-into-electrum/

Why does he decrypt the Private key? The Paper wallets I created with bitaddress.org gave me the Bitcoin Adress and the Private key, without any encryption. ( I will have to re-visit my Paper wallet creation method to include encryption now? ) Who is using the BIP38 Encryption when they creating their Paper wallets, because the Single Wallet does not have that option?

What is the best practice? Also, is there a limit to how many imports you can do in Electrum?

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[OmegaStarScream]

Why does he decrypt the Private key? The Paper wallets I created with bitaddress.org gave me the Bitcoin Adress and the Private key, without any encryption. ( I will have to re-visit my Paper wallet creation method to include encryption now? ) Who is using the BIP38 Encryption when they creating their Paper wallets, because the Single Wallet does not have that option?

Just go to the paper wallet tab (instead of single wallet), write 1 (since you only want to generate one address) in the "addresses to generate" and tick "BIP38 Encryption", it will then allow you to write the encryption passphrase. Like this:



You can decrypt the wallet later on by going to the "Wallet Details" tab.

If you're holding a large amount of money, then I'd definitely suggest recreating the wallet and encrypting it or just add a passphrase to the one you already have. That way, if someone ever finds it, he won't be able to spend the funds without the password.

What is the best practice? Also, is there a limit to how many imports you can do in Electrum?

I'd be more concerned about the way you used to generate the address. Did you run an offline copy of bitaddress on a LiveCD Linux?

[Kakmakr]

Why does he decrypt the Private key? The Paper wallets I created with bitaddress.org gave me the Bitcoin Adress and the Private key, without any encryption. ( I will have to re-visit my Paper wallet creation method to include encryption now? ) Who is using the BIP38 Encryption when they creating their Paper wallets, because the Single Wallet does not have that option?

Just go to the paper wallet tab (instead of single wallet), write 1 (since you only want to generate one address) in the "addresses to generate" and tick "BIP38 Encryption", it will then allow you to write the encryption passphrase. Like this:



You can decrypt the wallet later on by going to the "Wallet Details" tab.

If you're holding a large amount of money, then I'd definitely suggest recreating the wallet and encrypting it or just add a passphrase to the one you already have. That way, if someone ever finds it, he won't be able to spend the funds without the password.

What is the best practice? Also, is there a limit to how many imports you can do in Electrum?

I'd be more concerned about the way you used to generate the address. Did you run an offline copy of bitaddress on a LiveCD Linux?

No, my wallet creation process is very secure, I bought a old second hand computer and printer and I downloaded the script for bitaddress.org from the Github and used that to create the Paper wallets and then I physically destroyed the computer and printer. (It was never connected to the Internet)

I just never used the Encryption, because I did not want to over complicate the process for my family that stays behind, if something happens to me. Like this guy using another site called bit2factor.org to decrypt the key.

I guess my Paper wallets are not that secure after all, but it does not contain large amounts, so it is not a train smash if it is found.  (Most people save their passphrase with their Paper wallets in any way.)

[pooya87]

I guess my Paper wallets are not that secure after all, but it does not contain large amounts, so it is not a train smash if it is found.  (Most people save their passphrase with their Paper wallets in any way.)

it is safe in the sense that you created it on what i assume was a clean and offline environment and that it stayed offline (since it is "paper"!). but it is not safe against physical theft, meaning if someone had physical access to your paper wallet they could easily take that or take a picture and steal the coins without you even knowing unless you check the balance. the encryption prevents this attack.

[Kakmakr]

I guess my Paper wallets are not that secure after all, but it does not contain large amounts, so it is not a train smash if it is found.  (Most people save their passphrase with their Paper wallets in any way.)

it is safe in the sense that you created it on what i assume was a clean and offline environment and that it stayed offline (since it is "paper"!). but it is not safe against physical theft, meaning if someone had physical access to your paper wallet they could easily take that or take a picture and steal the coins without you even knowing unless you check the balance. the encryption prevents this attack.

Pieces of the Paper wallets are stored in very safe places, so the chance of someone ever finding it is very small. The Private key is also not stored in the same location as the Bitcoin address. (So you will have to know your stuff to extract it, if you ever figure it out)

I did not keep the printed Paper wallet in it's original format, I cut and scrambled it a bit and my family would know how to put it together again.  (Clues are based on information that they know about me) 

It takes quite a treasure hunt to find these things and you will have to know me and our family history to figure it out.  ( I kept duplicates in laminated form, just as a backup in another location ) 

[hugeblack]

I did not keep the printed Paper wallet in it's original format, I cut and scrambled it a bit and my family would know how to put it together again.  (Clues are based on information that they know about me) 

Cutting and assembling the private key in this way does not seem like a wise idea. For example, if you have a private key and cut two parts and someone reaches one of the parts, this does not mean that the time taken to brute-force your private key will be half, but will reduced by 2⁶⁴.

So it is better not to do that, you have to pay attention to where I put the parts and losing any part will make brute-force it much easier.

I recommend using ----> Secret sharing^[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_sharing

[HCP]

Just go to the paper wallet tab (instead of single wallet), write 1 (since you only want to generate one address) in the "addresses to generate" and tick "BIP38 Encryption", it will then allow you to write the encryption passphrase.

If you just want the raw private key/address data... the "Bulk Wallet" tab is "cleaner". Functionally, it is identical to the paper wallet tab, just without the pretty pictures


As for the method of securing it by cutting and scrambling... I'm always a bit skeptical when people come up with their own unique systems for achieving this. It's hard to determine the actual level of security it gives without knowing the full process.

[Saint-loup]

When Electrum will allow to directly import BIP38 keys like other wallets?

[pooya87]

When Electrum will allow to directly import BIP38 keys like other wallets?

i believe the problem is the new dependency requirements of BIP38 (it needs implementation of scrypt and AES, although i think Electrum should already have AES). there was a PR that was closed because of this a couple of years ago.
there is also a low priority issue here: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/3786

[swordsrkewl]

Hi everyone,

I just downloaded electrum, it was a 27MB file size, right from their website...I saw someone on reddit say they got a trojan from the site somehow maybe traffic was intercepted and injected to his device, anyway....

If the 27MB size sounds right then I am good? I am also curious about importing paper wallet to my wallet.

I tried to do a sweep/QR scan when setting up wallet but apparently it would only be available as a watch only wallet, which doesnt sound like what I wnt bc I want to sell this BTC.....

Is it not advisable to import paper wallets into electrum wallets directly thru the QR scan? Should I just manually enter the PK into my regular electrum wallet so I can send the funds for sale ?
Any help for a newbie to get his paper wallet onto the computer for sale would be greatly apprecaited.

Thanks!

[nc50lc]

Is it not advisable to import paper wallets into electrum wallets directly thru the QR scan? Should I just manually enter the PK into my regular electrum wallet so I can send the funds for sale ?

Is your paper wallet encrypted like the posts in this topic?

If the private key (secret) starts with 'L', 'K' or '5', then you can straight-forward import it to Electrum using "Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" in create new wallet window; this will create an "Imported wallet". Or sweep it to your new wallet (must be opened) using the menu "Wallet->Private keys->Sweep", this will initialize a transaction that will transfer the paper wallet's balance to your new wallet.

There's a prefix for different address type, you can display it by clicking the "Info" box in the import/sweep keys window.

[swordsrkewl]

Is it not advisable to import paper wallets into electrum wallets directly thru the QR scan? Should I just manually enter the PK into my regular electrum wallet so I can send the funds for sale ?

Is your paper wallet encrypted like the posts in this topic?

If the private key (secret) starts with 'L', 'K' or '5', then you can straight-forward import it to Electrum using "Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" in create new wallet window; this will create an "Imported wallet". Or sweep it to your new wallet (must be opened) using the menu "Wallet->Private keys->Sweep", this will initialize a transaction that will transfer the paper wallet's balance to your new wallet.

There's a prefix for different address type, you can display it by clicking the "Info" box in the import/sweep keys window.

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/5g-infrastructure-market-100869

Okay. thanks for replying. I sincerely appreciate your help. I did not encrypt my paper wallet, it does start with L. hen I set up a new wallet to import my key though, it says "Enter a list of Bitcoin addresses (this will create a watching-only wallet), or a list of private keys."

is it specifying that multiple bitcoin address will result in a watch only wallet, whereas if I import the private key thru QR scan, it will not create a watch only wallet? I read other users having a problem with their BTC getting stuck in watch only wallets when they tried to import them. I don't want to get locked out....

[OmegaStarScream]

Okay. thanks for replying. I sincerely appreciate your help. I did not encrypt my paper wallet, it does start with L. hen I set up a new wallet to import my key though, it says "Enter a list of Bitcoin addresses (this will create a watching-only wallet), or a list of private keys."

is it specifying that multiple bitcoin address will result in a watch only wallet, whereas if I import the private key thru QR scan, it will not create a watch only wallet? I read other users having a problem with their BTC getting stuck in watch only wallets when they tried to import them. I don't want to get locked out....

If you import an address, a "watch only" wallet will be created but if you import a private key, the funds will be spendable. If you're scanning the QR instead of pasting or typing the private key, then make sure that you're not scanning the addresses's QR. If scanning doesn't work for some reason, then typing it manually should do the trick.

[bob123]

is it specifying that multiple bitcoin address will result in a watch only wallet, whereas if I import the private key thru QR scan, it will not create a watch only wallet? I read other users having a problem with their BTC getting stuck in watch only wallets when they tried to import them. I don't want to get locked out....

Your "wallet" consists of basically two parts.
The one part is the public part. This includes the public key and the address.
The other part is the private part. This is your private key.

To spend funds, you need the private information (the private key). This is all you need to keep/have full control over your funds. The public information can be derived from the private information (but not the other way around).
The public information (public key and address) is used for a watch-only wallet. That's a wallet which can not send any BTC (simply since it does not have the private piece of information which is necessary).

[Pmalek]

I just downloaded electrum, it was a 27MB file size, right from their website...I saw someone on reddit say they got a trojan from the site somehow maybe traffic was intercepted and injected to his device, anyway....

If the 27MB size sounds right then I am good?

As long as you downloaded Electrum from the official site (https://electrum.org/#download) you should be safe from viruses. Certain anti virus software flag Electrum as malware, but it isn't. It's a false positive. Scroll towards the bottom of the site I linked and you will see that Electrum mentions that as well.

I am not sure which OS you use and which version of the software you downloaded, but it is always advisable to verify the signatures to make sure the software is legit. If you don't know how to do that, check here > https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/
Whatever they say on reddit, they surely didn't get a trojan from the official releases on electrum.org. They either downloaded a fake software from elsewhere, or their anti virus falsely reported Electrum as malware.

[swordsrkewl]

I just downloaded electrum, it was a 27MB file size, right from their website...I saw someone on reddit say they got a trojan from the site somehow maybe traffic was intercepted and injected to his device, anyway....

If the 27MB size sounds right then I am good?

As long as you downloaded Electrum from the official site (https://electrum.org/#download) you should be safe from viruses. Certain anti virus software flag Electrum as malware, but it isn't. It's a false positive. Scroll towards the bottom of the site I linked and you will see that Electrum mentions that as well.

I am not sure which OS you use and which version of the software you downloaded, but it is always advisable to verify the signatures to make sure the software is legit. If you don't know how to do that, check here > https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/
Whatever they say on reddit, they surely didn't get a trojan from the official releases on electrum.org. They either downloaded a fake software from elsewhere, or their anti virus falsely reported Electrum as malware.

Thanks man, I sort of impressed myself by setting it up and doing the PGP verify thru kleopatra. lots has changed since 2012. lol

[HCP]

...
I am not sure which OS you use and which version of the software you downloaded, but it is always advisable to verify the signatures to make sure the software is legit. If you don't know how to do that, check here > https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/
Whatever they say on reddit, they surely didn't get a trojan from the official releases on electrum.org. They either downloaded a fake software from elsewhere, or their anti virus falsely reported Electrum as malware.

Thanks man, I sort of impressed myself by setting it up and doing the PGP verify thru kleopatra. lots has changed since 2012. lol

Good to see someone actually taking the time to read, learn and verify...

Hopefully this will act as an example to other users that it isn't "impossible" (or insanely difficult) to verify the digital signatures of Electrum and might help encourage others to do the same!