How do I recover my old bitcoins?

[definevalue]

Hi, I received 10,000 bitcoins 10 years ago But it was a private key on my old computer that I sold a long time ago. How can I recover it? I have spent my whole life finding these bitcoins for 4 years And I have no hope in life anymore. If there is a way, help me find it
1f1miYFQWTzdLiCBxtHHnNiW7WAWPUccr

Ouch did someone brute force this wallet or something? Hope you are the one who found it.

[OneBitAtATime]

More speculation: There's a chance that it's related to: /index.php?topic=5547249.0
Because the timestamp of the OP's last reply to confirm his doubts has a relatively good gap after the 10k BTC transaction's timestamp.

His last post was before the transaction, not after. It would be cool if it's him though. Somehow that scenario sounds a lot more fun than someone who has sold similar amounts of Bitcoin over the years. From zero to tres commas

I actually found “Ahalipoor” on X @mrpilotam , and he said that he still hasn’t found his keys.. either he’s lying or lying about being the owner of the wallet, or someone somehow got into this wallet after 14 years..

[LoyceV]

either he’s lying or lying about being the owner of the wallet

That's was quite obvious 4 years ago already:

I'm not buying it.

someone somehow got into this wallet after 14 years..

Someone who steals 10,000 Bitcoins isn't going to pay only 3.42 sat/vbyte in transaction fees. They'll pay much more to make sure it confirms in the next block.

[Ahalipoor]

More speculation: There's a chance that it's related to: /index.php?topic=5547249.0
Because the timestamp of the OP's last reply to confirm his doubts has a relatively good gap after the 10k BTC transaction's timestamp.

His last post was before the transaction, not after. It would be cool if it's him though. Somehow that scenario sounds a lot more fun than someone who has sold similar amounts of Bitcoin over the years. From zero to tres commas

I actually found “Ahalipoor” on X @mrpilotam , and he said that he still hasn’t found his keys.. either he’s lying or lying about being the owner of the wallet, or someone somehow got into this wallet after 14 years..

It's not a lie My name is on X @Mrpilotam What do you have to do with me?

[pooya87]

found it after 14 years.  You can't have this level of self-control to not spend any coin.

Maybe it is not the best comparison considering the amount of coins in this case but let me say that I have coins I acquired back in 2014 and haven't touched them so far. That's like 11 years.

I actually found “Ahalipoor” on X @mrpilotam , and he said that he still hasn’t found his keys.. either he’s lying or lying about being the owner of the wallet, or someone somehow got into this wallet after 14 years..

Or maybe the real owner of those coins saw that random people on the internet keep talking about his/her coins  claiming to own them and decided to move those coins into a new address to put an end to it.

[bitwise]

Someone who steals 10,000 Bitcoins isn't going to pay only 3.42 sat/vbyte in transaction fees. They'll pay much more to make sure it confirms in the next block.

Although I too don't think it was stolen, you're wrong.
nSequence = 0xFFFFFFFE, so no RBF, so nothing the owner could do once the tx is broadcasted.
doesn't matter if it gets mined in a block or two, or 20.

[LoyceV]

nSequence = 0xFFFFFFFE, so no RBF, so nothing the owner could do once the tx is broadcasted.
doesn't matter if it gets mined in a block or two, or 20.

That's not how Bitcoin transactions work. As long as it's not confirmed, any transaction can be replaced. You should read Full RBF.

[apogio]

I have coins I acquired back in 2014 and haven't touched them so far. That's like 11 years.

Self-control at its finest.

Although I too don't think it was stolen, you're wrong.
nSequence = 0xFFFFFFFE, so no RBF, so nothing the owner could do once the tx is broadcasted.
doesn't matter if it gets mined in a block or two, or 20.

Once the tx is broadcasted, it gets in the mempool, where it lives until it gets written in a new block. If the block that has it included gets mined, then indeed it's impractical to try to revert it.
But as long as the tx is in the mempool, you can definitely try to cancel it or speed it up.

[bitwise]

You should read Full RBF.

Thank you. That's news to me. Have all the major pools supported it?

Full RBF will be enabled by default (for all users who haven't explicitly turned it off) in the next Bitcoin Core release, v28.0.

[Medusah]

Maybe it is not the best comparison considering the amount of coins in this case but let me say that I have coins I acquired back in 2014 and haven't touched them so far. That's like 11 years.

I salute to diamond hands, but I hope you've triple-checked you haven't lost access. 

[LoyceV]

Have all the major pools supported it?

I'm not following pool-details, but it wouldn't be smart not to support it. They'd lose out on higher fees if they mine the older transactions with lower fee instead of a RBF transaction.

[DaRude]

More speculation: There's a chance that it's related to: /index.php?topic=5547249.0
Because the timestamp of the OP's last reply to confirm his doubts has a relatively good gap after the 10k BTC transaction's timestamp.

His last post was before the transaction, not after. It would be cool if it's him though. Somehow that scenario sounds a lot more fun than someone who has sold similar amounts of Bitcoin over the years. From zero to tres commas

I actually found “Ahalipoor” on X @mrpilotam , and he said that he still hasn’t found his keys.. either he’s lying or lying about being the owner of the wallet, or someone somehow got into this wallet after 14 years..

It's not a lie My name is on X @Mrpilotam What do you have to do with me?

Well, if any of what you say is true (which i doubt) these guys seem to now control the BTC https://mempool.space/tx/4c4c573e17cab44df76cfe3437aa8cd07067af357e7b8982fdecc3e94d41b1d7 NOTICE TO OWNER: see www.salomonbros.com/owner_notice i'd get a lawyer

Were you running or using some exchange or online wallet? Can you provide some information on this address, software used to generate it? Because according to this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=271049.msg2903872#msg2903872 it seems like some online exchange sweeping hot coins to cold storage address.

[LoyceV]

these guys seem to now control the BTC https://mempool.space/tx/4c4c573e17cab44df76cfe3437aa8cd07067af357e7b8982fdecc3e94d41b1d7 NOTICE TO OWNER: see www.salomonbros.[spam]com/owner_notice i'd get a lawyer

That's just dust spam. Anyone can send any OP_RETURN to any address. It doesn't mean or prove anything.
If someone wanted to broadcast a message to prove ownership of the address on-chain, he'd do it from that address.

[Mushai]

Since we're speculating now: I don't think the keys were lost. As I wrote above (4 years ago), it was worth $30k when it was received. That doesn't sounds like something to lose access to. So my guess is the owner had multiple more addresses, and may have sold some other coins over the years. Just not this input.
A billion bucks That's quite literally a truckload of money.

I agree. 6 truckloads of money. There were 6 addresses all with 10,000BTC, all moved on the same day, 4th July.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/15slkxx/the_mysterious_6_wallets_holding_10k_btc_each/

https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1f1miYFQWTzdLiCBxtHHnNiW7WAWPUccr
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1BAFWQhH9pNkz3mZDQ1tWrtKkSHVCkc3fV
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/14YK4mzJGo5NKkNnmVJeuEAQftLt795Gec
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1P1iThxBH542Gmk1kZNXyji4E4iwpvSbrt
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1ucXXZQSEf4zny2HRwAQKtVpkLPTUKRtt
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1CPaziTqeEixPoSFtJxu74uDGbpEAotZom

[LoyceV]

I agree. 6 truckloads of money. There were 6 addresses all with 10,000BTC, all moved on the same day, 4th July.

That makes it even more obvious OP was a dreamer. I guess this will never stop: once in a while someone who doesn't understand Bitcoin thinks he's the genius who can gain access to a rich Bitcoin address. Lol.

[DaRude]

these guys seem to now control the BTC https://mempool.space/tx/4c4c573e17cab44df76cfe3437aa8cd07067af357e7b8982fdecc3e94d41b1d7 NOTICE TO OWNER: see www.salomonbros.[spam]com/owner_notice i'd get a lawyer

That's just dust spam. Anyone can send any OP_RETURN to any address. It doesn't mean or prove anything.
If someone wanted to broadcast a message to prove ownership of the address on-chain, he'd do it from that address.

Sure, but on 2025-07-02 address gets dusted with OP_RETURN saying "Our client has taken constructive possession of it" and then two days later on 2025-07-04 it gets emptied, after staying dormant for 14 years since 2011. I think the timing couldn't be more suspicious, and if i had any claim to it I'd at least reach out to Salomon Brothers to confirm validity of the message. Not sure why someone or reporters hadn't validated it with them yet.

Since we're speculating now: I don't think the keys were lost. As I wrote above (4 years ago), it was worth $30k when it was received. That doesn't sounds like something to lose access to. So my guess is the owner had multiple more addresses, and may have sold some other coins over the years. Just not this input.
A billion bucks That's quite literally a truckload of money.

I agree. 6 truckloads of money. There were 6 addresses all with 10,000BTC, all moved on the same day, 4th July.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/15slkxx/the_mysterious_6_wallets_holding_10k_btc_each/

https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1f1miYFQWTzdLiCBxtHHnNiW7WAWPUccr
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1BAFWQhH9pNkz3mZDQ1tWrtKkSHVCkc3fV
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/14YK4mzJGo5NKkNnmVJeuEAQftLt795Gec
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1P1iThxBH542Gmk1kZNXyji4E4iwpvSbrt
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1ucXXZQSEf4zny2HRwAQKtVpkLPTUKRtt
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1CPaziTqeEixPoSFtJxu74uDGbpEAotZom

On July 2nd all 6 of these addresses get dusted saying Salomon Brothers' client takes possession and two days later all 6 of them get emptied after staying dormant since 2011  

[goldkingcoiner]

OP seems to be either trolling or attempting some sort of scam. I am waiting on where this topic is heading... What is the endgame here? Begging for donations? Hoping someone will help you access the wallet from a misunderstanding on how Bitcoin wallets work? Or simply gathering attention for fun? 

There has to be more evidence that the money belongs to him. Either he would have bought the coin, or obtained them otherwise. You don't get over 30K USD out of the blue for no reason from an anonymous sender. There would be more of a traceable trail than that.

At any point, replying further to this thread seems a moot point.

[LoyceV]

Sure, but on 2025-07-02 address gets dusted with OP_RETURN saying "Our client has taken constructive possession of it" and then two days later on 2025-07-04 it gets emptied, after staying dormant for 14 years since 2011. I think the timing couldn't be more suspicious

I missed the timing indeed, I thought the dust spam happened after it was emptied, but it happened earlier. The link in their OP_RETURN doesn't work, it needs "-" instead of "_". It sounds like they're trying to make up some legal mumbo jumbo to justify stealing 6 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin, giving the owner 90 days to respond.
How is this not the subject of the week on Bitcointalk?

It doesn't make sense to brute-force legacy private keys, so the most logical thing would be the owner created this little scheme by himself. They've sent many similar OP_RETURN messages to other (rich) addresses, but so far I haven't seen those funds move. It could also be a little scheme to scare the shit out of Bitcoiners if they receive such an OP_RETURN on one of their addresses. It's weird!

[DaRude]

Sure, but on 2025-07-02 address gets dusted with OP_RETURN saying "Our client has taken constructive possession of it" and then two days later on 2025-07-04 it gets emptied, after staying dormant for 14 years since 2011. I think the timing couldn't be more suspicious

I missed the timing indeed, I thought the dust spam happened after it was emptied, but it happened earlier. The link in their OP_RETURN doesn't work, it needs "-" instead of "_". It sounds like they're trying to make up some legal mumbo jumbo to justify stealing 6 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin, giving the owner 90 days to respond.
How is this not the subject of the week on Bitcointalk?

It doesn't make sense to brute-force legacy private keys, so the most logical thing would be the owner created this little scheme by himself. They've sent many similar OP_RETURN messages to other (rich) addresses, but so far I haven't seen those funds move. It could also be a little scheme to scare the shit out of Bitcoiners if they receive such an OP_RETURN on one of their addresses. It's weird!

Interesting, not 100% but think the link from OP_RETURN worked for me before, now gives me 404 but like you said changing "_" to "-" works. Indeed when talking about billions of dollars in BTC i'd think a lot of reporters would be all over Salomon Brothers asking for comments seeing how they're giving "October 5, 2025" as a supposed deadline.

Agree everything is weird about this, and the fact that OP popped up but not providing any additional info doesn't help.

Any easy way to search all transactions by OP_RETURN to see how many contain salomonbros address, to check how many were sent out vs how many were actually moved after? Because they also dusted Gox's 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZjqQMjJrcCrHGW9sb6uF

[Mushai]

I think the owner of those addresses saw the spam comment, read the legal notice, and moved all their bitcoin to new addresses.

The "legal" notice implies that they wouldn't steal this person/organisations bitcoin until October.

The text of the "legal" notice is:

This digital wallet appears to be lost or abandoned. Our client has taken constructive possession of it and seeks to determine if there is a bona fide owner.

This legal notice is posted pursuant to, and in compliance with, applicable law, which is intended to provide an opportunity for the owner to claim property otherwise qualifying as lost or abandoned. The owner is provided ninety (90) days to respond to this Notice. In other words, an owner with valid proof of ownership must respond before October 5, 2025. If no response is received, the digital wallets and their contents, will be considered to be confirmed as abandoned. In sum, the lack of a response may be provided to a court as evidence of the relinquishment of all rights, title and interest in the digital wallets. This is an important legal notice and rights could be adversely impacted if the bona fide owner of this digital wallet does not respond.

Provide proof of ownership either by: (1) using the private key associated with the wallet in any on-chain transaction, such as move contents to a new wallet, which allows the owner to signal ownership while maintaining anonymity and costs an owner nearly nothing; or (2) sending Salomon Brothers a message using the Contact Form (see below) with a detailed description of your valid claim to ownership including supporting documentation. Message can be sent by owner or by owner's representative, to maintain anonymity. Send a message via the Contact Form below.

Our client seeks ownership right to the digital wallet for which no valid owner responds prior to October 5, 2025. Hence forth, no person shall trespass upon, infringe the rights of, nor attempt to extract any digital asset, from this digital wallet without prior written authorization of our client, except for an individual or entity which can show valid proof of ownership. Our client reserves all rights and will act to defend its rights against any trespasser. Those wishing to contact our client may do so using the Contact Form below.
___
This webpage is administered by us solely as a service to our client. We are not a principal nor a counterparty to any claims or transactions involving this wallet. This notice is meant only for the wallet owner and no other person.
For added background, see https://salomonbros.com/about-notices