How to get old Bitcoins back

[cartierblade]

So my dad got 100$ worth of bitcoin back in 2009, he got a 'verification code' to his old email but forgot about it afterwards. Is there anyway to retrieve the bitcoin now, he doesn't have his old computer so there's no backup. Pls help lol     (edit: there is a hard drive with it on it, does that mean anything?)

[1714930103]

1714930103

[Charles-Tim]

If he got no backup file, how about the private key? The private key can be used to retrieve back the bitcoin. The most important backup is the private key, or anything you can use to generate the private like the seed phrase. But, at the time, no seed phrase yet, but the wallet will have private key.

[nc50lc]

So my dad got 100$ worth of bitcoin back in 2009, he got a 'verification code' to his old email but forgot about it afterwards. -snip-

The "verification code" part is not promising, because if it's from 2009, then he must have used the official client which doesn't have a verification code.

Pls help lol   

Σ( ￣□￣||)

[cartierblade]

So my dad got 100$ worth of bitcoin back in 2009, he got a 'verification code' to his old email but forgot about it afterwards. -snip-

The "verification code" part is not promising, because if it's from 2009, then he must have used the official client which doesn't have a verification code.

Pls help lol   

Σ( ￣□￣||)

all I know is that he got some sort of email to confirm it, verification code was probably a wrong choice of words lol

[cartierblade]

If he got no backup file, how about the private key? The private key can be used to retrieve back the bitcoin. The most important backup is the private key, or anything you can use to generate the private like the seed phrase. But, at the time, no seed phrase yet, but the wallet will have private key.

this might sound dumb but how do I find the private key

[Charles-Tim]

this might sound dumb but how do I find the private key

So far your Dad bought $100 worth of bitcoin at the time, there will be private key for the public key or address used. You father will know that, because without the file or the private key backup, it may remian impossible for the bitcoin to be recovered. So, at the time, the address your father used to receive the bitcoin has private key which your father should know and appropriately backup like on paper. So, you will ask your father about the private key, where he backup the private key. 

[LoyceV]

So my dad got 100$ worth of bitcoin back in 2009

As far as I know, Bitcoin had no real dollar dollar value in 2009.

[Stalker22]

edit: there is a hard drive with it on it, does that mean anything?

There is a hard drive with what on it?
If what you are saying is true, you should have the original version of the Bitcoin Core client on that hard drive. Can you confirm that?

Be very careful not to damage the data on the drive, so I would recommend cloning the drive before any other actions.

[NotATether]

We need more information to help you.

- What is the name of the wallet software or wallet website? Look for clues in the sender of the email address.
- Has he ever accessed the bitcoins using a wallet file, such as one called "wallet.dat" or something else, or a username/password combo in the browser, or just a password by itself to some Windows software?
- If it's a website is it still operational (it didn't shut down)?
- Do you know any of the addresses that he used (we could use them to attempt to track down what kind of wallet it is and potentially where it was created)?
- When was the last time he used the wallet?
- Was this wallet ever deleted?
- Since you said "there is a hard drive with it on it" do you have the physical hard drive that the wallet was stored on, and was this drive connected to the old computer that your dad used the wallet on?

[nc50lc]

Pls help lol  

Σ( ￣□￣||)

all I know is that he got some sort of email to confirm it, verification code was probably a wrong choice of words lol

Are you sure about the year?
Bitcoin was just released that year and it's hard to imagine that a service that gives some sort of "verification code" existed.

You might need to search for a private key that your dad might have exported from Bitcoin core through a third-party program.
That should look like a string of HEX Characters (0-9, A-F) consisting of 64characters; if newer that you expected, 51 BASE58 characters that starts with '5'; or much recent, starts with 'L' or 'K'.
Also look for a file named "wallet.dat".

One the side note: with all those "lol", it's hard to take this seriously.

[BurtW]

The 2009 must be a typo.  2019 perhaps?