Recovery failure Coldcard legacy adress. Lost coins?

[Abella]

Hi guys! I have a problem and have no clue what to do to solve this...
I exported my wallet from my coldcard to micro SD by selecting: Electrum -> native Segwitt.
Instead of creating a watch only wallet by uploading the file, I've copy pasted the Xpub to create a watch only wallet.
Then I (unfortunately) proceeded to transfer funds to the wallet which I cannot seem to recover anymore.
The issue is that a legacy adress was created instead of the selected native segwitt, because I pasted the Xpub.
The Xpub in the watch only adress, unfortunately is a different Xpub than shown if I correctly upload the file from my Micro SD to create a wallet.

Have I lost my coins or is there anything left for me to try?
I already trried to export a new wallet from the coldcard by selecting Electrum -> legacy, unfortunately this creates a different Legacy wallet...

Anyone that could help me?

[1714730228]

1714730228

[jackg]

Is it an xpub that begins with xpub? It's not hexadecimal or anything? Ie it isn't (0x)56FF842AD3...

If it begins Xpub only one wallet should be produced imo i don't think there's a way to fiddle with the derivation path or anything.

Are the xpubs really dissimilar? It might be worth getting in touch with cold card, the only other idea id have is is the qr code scanner likely to have been vulnerable to attacks or the machine where the xpub was copied?

If doing this again in the future. Please check 12 random characters in the xpub to check they're the same - and if necessary all of them.

[BitMaxz]

If it is generated from your Coldcard wallet and if it shows xpub in the first line then you can import it to 3rd party wallet as a watch-only wallet.

The only problem here as you said that the xpub from Electrum is different from what you export from Micro SD?
If that's the case then it means you did wrong on importing the xPUB to Electrum and maybe instead of importing the xPub you just created a new wallet?

Can you check the Electrum if it shows something like this below?



If it's not watch-only then you might be created a fresh wallet from Electrum so you have full control of that wallet and you can able to send/transfer to another wallet.

But if it shows watch-only wallet but the xpub is different from the file on MicroSD well you might be victim with copy-paste malware?

Try to make an unsigned transaction from Electrum with that wallet and try to sign with your Coldcard let see if it will work.
Use this guide from youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNZgVHq0FGM

[nc50lc]

Have I lost my coins or is there anything left for me to try?
I already trried to export a new wallet from the coldcard by selecting Electrum -> legacy, unfortunately this creates a different Legacy wallet...

Does the exported file looks like this:

Code:

{ "keystore": {
"ckcc_xpub": "xpubD68yzVbkkYhZ4X...............................",
"xpub": "zpub5Z6b91QvDT3yog4bm................................",
"label": "Coldcard Import ......",
"ckcc_xfp": .....,
"type": "hardware",
"hw_type": "coldcard",
"derivation": "m/84'/0'/0'"
},......

If you've used the top-most xpub for your SegWit export, try this on an Air-Gap machine (always offline):
Since those xpub/zpub have a derivation path of m/ when imported,
Use the 24-Word Seed Phrase and your BIP-39 Passphrase to restore the wallet using the option:
Standard Wallet->I Already have a seed->Options "BIP39", tick "Extend this seed with custom words" if your Coldcard have a Passphrase.
Paste the Seed phrase, click next and type the BIP-39 Passphrase if you ticked it.

In the address selection window, select P2PKH - Legacy, then change the derivation path into m/
Now, check the addresses in the address tab if they match.

[Abella]

Is it an xpub that begins with xpub? It's not hexadecimal or anything? Ie it isn't (0x)56FF842AD3...

If it begins Xpub only one wallet should be produced imo i don't think there's a way to fiddle with the derivation path or anything.

Are the xpubs really dissimilar? It might be worth getting in touch with cold card, the only other idea id have is is the qr code scanner likely to have been vulnerable to attacks or the machine where the xpub was copied?

If doing this again in the future. Please check 12 random characters in the xpub to check they're the same - and if necessary all of them.

Yes, the xpub indeed starts with Xpub.
When you check the file on the micro sd, derived from the coldcard, you will indeed see 2 different Xpubs, pretty confusing imo as I thought only one could be derived per xpriv.
So the Xpub from the wtch only wallet is corresponding to one of the xpubs shown on the micro Sd card, I guess I took the wrong Xpub. (so I don't worry about some kind of malware attack)
Already asked Coldcard what the issue is, but they replied that I should try to create the wallet again, this doesn't work and they're not replying anymore..
I believe Nc50lc (one of the other comments below) is close to a solution as what he states is indeed approx. how the downloaded file looks like.

[Abella]

If it is generated from your Coldcard wallet and if it shows xpub in the first line then you can import it to 3rd party wallet as a watch-only wallet.

The only problem here as you said that the xpub from Electrum is different from what you export from Micro SD?
If that's the case then it means you did wrong on importing the xPUB to Electrum and maybe instead of importing the xPub you just created a new wallet?

Can you check the Electrum if it shows something like this below?

https://i.imgur.com/75TK87E.png

If it's not watch-only then you might be created a fresh wallet from Electrum so you have full control of that wallet and you can able to send/transfer to another wallet.

But if it shows watch-only wallet but the xpub is different from the file on MicroSD well you might be victim with copy-paste malware?

Try to make an unsigned transaction from Electrum with that wallet and try to sign with your Coldcard let see if it will work.
Use this guide from youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNZgVHq0FGM

Electrum indeed shows that it's a watch only and I'm not able to spend from it if I don't have the seed.
But the Xpub shown in the watch only wallet is also displayed in the file I downloaded from my coldcard.
As the correct Xpub is also shown in the downloaded file, I don't think I have to be worried about a malware attack or something similar.
So the confusing part is that there are 2 Xpubs shown on the downloaded file, as I found out later.
Therefore I'm indeed afraid I created a completely new watch only wallet, which I did in Blue wallet BTW.
I will try to make a transaction from this file in Electrum tonight according to the youtube video and sign with my coldcard. will let you know if this works.
I tried to do this in bluewallet, but as this is a watch only wallet it didn't give me the option to create a transaction for this legacy adres. If I understood blue wallet correctly it's because they don't support legacy?

[Abella]

Have I lost my coins or is there anything left for me to try?
I already trried to export a new wallet from the coldcard by selecting Electrum -> legacy, unfortunately this creates a different Legacy wallet...

Does the exported file looks like this:

Code:

{ "keystore": {
"ckcc_xpub": "xpubD68yzVbkkYhZ4X...............................",
"xpub": "zpub5Z6b91QvDT3yog4bm................................",
"label": "Coldcard Import ......",
"ckcc_xfp": .....,
"type": "hardware",
"hw_type": "coldcard",
"derivation": "m/84'/0'/0'"
},......

If you've used the top-most xpub for your SegWit export, try this on an Air-Gap machine (always offline):
Since those xpub/zpub have a derivation path of m/ when imported,
Use the 24-Word Seed Phrase and your BIP-39 Passphrase to restore the wallet using the option:
Standard Wallet->I Already have a seed->Options "BIP39", tick "Extend this seed with custom words" if your Coldcard have a Passphrase.
Paste the Seed phrase, click next and type the BIP-39 Passphrase if you ticked it.

In the address selection window, select P2PKH - Legacy, then change the derivation path into m/
Now, check the addresses in the address tab if they match.

Yes the native segwit adress file I exported from the coldcard looks like this!!
So you're saying I have to restore a new wallet in Electrum by inserting my seed words?
I honestly am not comfortable doing this as I have a coldcard and don't want to insert my seed words anywhere.
I believe this is why you are refering to do this on an airgapped machine? Can you give an example on the safest way to do this? I believe the only airgapped machine I have is my coldcard.
Or could I just turn of the internet on my pc and insert the words in Electrum while I'm not connected to the internet?
I believe you are closest to the solution as I have the feeling I indeed have to change something in the derivation path when creating the legacy wallet..

I already tried to export a legacy file from the coldcard and create a new wallet in electrum.
This created a wallet, but with a different xpub then shown in the watch only wallet.
Therefore I indeed think I have to change something in the derivation path.

So do you think I can change the derivation path on this "legacy" file to:
"derivation": "m/"
instead of
"derivation": "m/84'/0'/0'"

[Chikito]

So do you think I can change the derivation path on this "legacy" file to:
"derivation": "m/"
instead of
"derivation": "m/84'/0'/0'"

For legacy change 84 into 44

[o_e_l_e_o]

I honestly am not comfortable doing this as I have a coldcard and don't want to insert my seed words anywhere.
I believe this is why you are refering to do this on an airgapped machine? Can you give an example on the safest way to do this? I believe the only airgapped machine I have is my coldcard.
Or could I just turn of the internet on my pc and insert the words in Electrum while I'm not connected to the internet?

You should never enter your seed phrase on an internet enabled device.

If you have an old computer or laptop which you can permanently keep disconnected from the internet, then this is your best option.

If you don't, then simply disconnecting your computer from the internet and reconnecting afterwards is not particularly safe - your seed phrase will likely still be stored somewhere in your memory, and there exists malware which can copy it and then broadcast it at a later time when internet access is re-established. What I would do if I have no other device would be to download Tails on to a flash drive, shut down your computer, disabled your internet connection, disconnect your hard drives, boot to Tails, restore your seed and sign and save transaction which will move your coins out to a wallet you have proper control over, and then shutdown, reconnect everything, boot back in to your normal OS, and broadcast the transaction.


You could also try going to https://iancoleman.io/bip39/, paste the xpub you used in to the box titled "BIP32 Root Key", select "BIP32" under the titled "Derivation Path", and then try different derivation paths to see if the addresses match up.

[BitMaxz]

If I understood blue wallet correctly it's because they don't support legacy?

Well, based on their features that they support the legacy format so it means it's supported and should be able to make a transaction.

I just don't know how blue wallet works but in Electrum you can make unsigned transaction with watch-only wallet and you can able to export.

If the xPUB was generated from ColdCard you shouldn't be worry, it should be valid after you sign the transaction and broadcast to the network.

[nc50lc]

I already tried to export a legacy file from the coldcard and create a new wallet in electrum.
This created a wallet, but with a different xpub then shown in the watch only wallet.
Therefore I indeed think I have to change something in the derivation path.

So do you think I can change the derivation path on this "legacy" file to:

I don't think it's possible to change the derivation path of a Coldcard wallet.json export,
the master public key itself was derived from that derivation path so whether you changed the derivation path in the json file or not, it will create the same wallet.

-snip-

Yes the native segwit adress file I exported from the coldcard looks like this!!
So you're saying I have to restore a new wallet in Electrum by inserting my seed words?
I honestly am not comfortable doing this as I have a coldcard and don't want to insert my seed words anywhere.
I believe this is why you are refering to do this on an airgapped machine? Can you give an example on the safest way to do this?

As described by o_e_l_e_o.
Any machine that's permanently disconnected from the net is considered "Air-gap".
If you don't want to use your seed phrase, you can wait for more replies to have more options;
and use that method plus other derivation paths as the last resort.

[Abella]

If I understood blue wallet correctly it's because they don't support legacy?

Well, based on their features that they support the legacy format so it means it's supported and should be able to make a transaction.

I just don't know how blue wallet works but in Electrum you can make unsigned transaction with watch-only wallet and you can able to export.

If the xPUB was generated from ColdCard you shouldn't be worry, it should be valid after you sign the transaction and broadcast to the network.

Yeah this worked!!!
I was initially confused because Electrum also warned that I couldn't spend from this wallet.
I couldn't spend from the watch only wallet via Bluewallet, so thought Electrum worked the same.
When I created the same watch only wallet in electrum, I could create a PSBT transaction, sign via the coldcard and broadcast in Electrum.
But I could only recover the wallet by pasting the Xpub, not by exporting a legacy file from the coldcard.
Learned a good lesson here, but thank you all so much for your time and suggestions!!
Truly appreciate it!!!
Seing the community spirit and your willingness to help gave me even more confidence that Bitcoin is going to be the future money of choice!!