Recover your BTC with private key and nothing else

[againstme**]

Hi, Hi, my former wallett provider (Payrue) shut down the walletts. I forgot to transfer my BTC. Now I have my private key. I have nothing else besides the key. Is there a way to recover my BTC balance? I m a newbie. So I really need a step by step info. Thanks

[1715696561]

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[1715696561]

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[bitbollo]

What it means they shutdown the wallets? It was an online service?
Something similar happens with Multibit but it is still accessibile (and at your own risk) it can be also used a usually (laptop version).

BTW,  if you have private key there is not issue at all....
(unless this is the real key that you need and not same random stuff....)
However this is the first time that I heard about "Payrue" wallet ....

check electrum https://electrum.org/ it should be the best way for a quick recovery of Private key.

Hi, Hi, my former wallett provider (Payrue) shut down the walletts. I forgot to transfer my BTC. Now I have my private key. I have nothing else besides the key. Is there a way to recover my BTC balance? I m a newbie. So I really need a step by step info. Thanks

[ABCbits]

However this is the first time that I heard about "Payrue" wallet ....

OP might be referring to this website https://payrue.com/wallet.html.

check electrum https://electrum.org/ it should be the best way for a quick recovery of Private key.

I also recommend Electrum. Here's the guide to import private key on Electrum, https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/.

[RickDeckard]

However this is the first time that I heard about "Payrue" wallet ....

OP might be referring to this website https://payrue.com/wallet.html.

More specifically, I think that OP may be reffering to this blog entry from PayRue (dated July 2nd[1]):

Due to new regulations, due to the cost of running custody wallets with limited use, and to follow the general market evolution into DeFi we have decided to close down PayRue Wallet on 1st of August 2021 and replace it with PayRue DEX Wallet.

@agaisntme** you should see if you had your funds on PayRue Wallet[2] or PayRue PRO Wallet[3] (Since this was the one that was changed to "DEX Wallet"). If you didn't have the PRO Wallet then - in theory - you should still have access to the Wallet version (I wasn't able to find any news related with it being replaced).
[1]https://payrue.medium.com/payrue-dex-wallet-to-replace-payrue-pro-wallet-e84854c5dec8
[2]https://wallet.payrue.com/
[3]https://payrue.com/wallet.html

[o_e_l_e_o]

What does your private key look like? (Obviously don't share your private key with anyone!)

If it begins with 5, K, or L, and is 51 or 52 characters long, then it is a WIF key and should import as is in to Electrum to restore a single address. You will need to prefix it with either p2pkh: for legacy addresses (1), p2wpkh-p2sh: for nested segwit addresses (3), or p2wpkh: for native segwit addresses (bc1).

If it begins with xprv, yprv, or zprv, then it is a master private key which will recover an entire wallet. You might have issues with finding the correct derivation path, though.

If it 64 hexadecimal characters (0-9 and A-F), then you'll need to convert it in to WIF format before you can import it to Electrum.

[Pmalek]

You will need to prefix it with either p2pkh: for legacy addresses (1), p2wpkh-p2sh: for nested segwit addresses (3), or p2wpkh: for native segwit addresses (bc1).

Are you absolutely sure that the prefix is needed for legacy addresses as well? Won't Electrum recover a legacy address by default if there is no nested segwit or native segwit prefix provided?

When I was mixing coins with ChipMixer ones, I forgot to include the "p2wpkh:" prefix for a native segwit address (I just entered the private key) and the Electrum client recovered a wallet with a legacy address. 

[o_e_l_e_o]

Are you absolutely sure that the prefix is needed for legacy addresses as well?

At the moment, you are right and the prefix is not needed. If you miss out the prefix then Electrum will default to the legacy address. However, given that Electrum is (rightly so) moving more and more towards treating segwit as the standard address type, given that they removed the option to generate legacy wallets from the GUI, then I suspect in the future when importing a private key it will change to default to segwit if no prefix is included. I included all three prefixes merely for the sake of completeness.

[Porfirii]

Any progress in this topic, againstme**?

As stated above in detail, the clue here is what kind of private key you have. If it is some kind of non standard or cyphered key, then you may have trouble trying to import it to other wallets. So, in this thread's case, how does the key start? how does it look like? Is it one of the mentioned by o_e_l_e_o?