Recover BTC lost by tech error?

[Ramsavar]

I joined Coinbase, made my first purchase of BTC, then tried to transfer some of it to my Electrum wallet. The BTC was sent but failed to appear in my wallet. According to an answer on this forum, I should have used the Receiving address, whereas I used an address from the “Addresses” section of the wallet. Presumably this was the cause of the problem, and if so, my question now is whether there’s any way to still get the BTC into my wallet, or has it vanished forever into the cyber-void?

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Any of the addresses from your account in the electrum wallet should be fine. At the end of the day, they are all part of your account. What I think might have happened could be that ;
1. The transaction has not yet been confirmed.
2. You sent funds to an address that does not belong to the account you created in Electrum.

Can you check your Transaction ID using blockchair.com to find out if your transaction was confirmed or If the address that received your bitcoins matches one of the addresses in your electrum wallet?

[BitMaxz]

Where did you download the Electrum?

You must check first if your Electrum lower right corner show green circle or red or might be stuck on syncing with 2 arrows?

It should be downloaded from the original site which is Electrum.org.

[Ramsavar]

Any of the addresses from your account in the electrum wallet should be fine. At the end of the day, they are all part of your account.

Thanks, that’s the first vital piece of info I needed!

The transaction was confirmed on Coinbase; on my dashboard it says that the BTC was sent.

[bitmover]

Any of the addresses from your account in the electrum wallet should be fine. At the end of the day, they are all part of your account.

Thanks, that’s the first vital piece of info I needed!

The transaction was confirmed on Coinbase; on my dashboard it says that the BTC was sent.

What is important is to check if your transaction is already registered in a block in the blockchain.
To check that you can use any blockexplorer and just type the address you used from electrum

For example:
https://blockstream.info/address/3CJFas8gMxYE4oaJMhkrnEtEBByahUnP4Z

Unconfirmed transaction means that it was only broadcasted.
It should appear in electrum. If it doenst you gave the wrong address or your software is not properly syncing.

[Ramsavar]

Where did you download the Electrum?

You must check first if your Electrum lower right corner show green circle or red or might be stuck on syncing with 2 arrows?

Aha! The circle is red.

A box popped up with 3 menus: Overview, Connection, and Server. In the first it has Status: Connected to 2 nodes. Then Server: None. In the Server menu the box is checked for ?Select server automatically?. The server selected is bitcoin.freedomnode.com. In the Connection menu the box is checked for Use SSL.

Presumably some of this is part of the problem. Perhaps you can help me to get it set up properly.

I did download it from Electrum.org but it?s an older version, 3.0.1. I now realize I should have updated to the latest version, and will do that for future transactions. Meanwhile presumably I have to solve the problem on the wallet I have in order to recover the BTC that was sent to it.

[pooya87]

I did download it from Electrum.org but it?s an older version, 3.0.1.

this is your issue. the older versions (any version below 3.3.0) can no longer connect to Electrum nodes to synchronize so they get stuck like this. you must upgrade to the latest version to solve it. https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/5195

additionally keep in mind that just downloading from electrum.org is not enough, you must verify the digital signature of the file you downloaded with the developer's public key

[HCP]

Meanwhile presumably I have to solve the problem on the wallet I have in order to recover the BTC that was sent to it.

No. You can update immediately... and will need to do so to be able to solve your problem. So, as per pooya87's suggestion, simply update to the latest version on electrum.org and Electrum should then be able to sync correctly. You should end up with a "green dot" in the bottom right of the Electrum window and you'll be able to see your transaction(s).

For further information on how to verify the digital signature of the Electrum download, refer here: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/

[NeuroticFish]

1. If your old Electrum pops up a window telling to update from there do not follow that link.
2. Backup your seed or wallet.
3. Go to electrum.org and download the newest version.
4. Verify your downloaded electrum as said in the previous post.
5. Install, use..

[BitMaxz]

~snip~

If it was red then you have a connection problem that's why you can't able to see your current balance.
Since you mention that you currently using the older version how did you download this Electrum and when did you download it?

If you downloaded it this year there's a possibility that you downloaded it somewhere because Electrum 3.0.1 is no longer available on this page https://electrum.org/#download
Unless if you downloaded it from this link https://download.electrum.org/

Anyway, like the other said upgrading it to the latest version can solve this problem but if you still get a red circle it means the problem is your internet or DNS that blocks your electrum from connecting online. If that's the case changing your DNS might solve your issue.