Missing 10 Characters in WIF Private Key - Can I recover them?

[soferox]

I have a question. Recently there was a flood and a notebook containing a offline wallet was damage and it destroyed part of a WIF private key, so now I basically have:

Kw**********(I have the next 40 characters, just not posting for obvious reasons), so I am missing 10 characters in all.

I also have the public key. Is it possible to use this software to start a search at Kw... and iterate over the missing 10 characters with the known 40 characters also in the key.

For example : 1B2Q8vPm5E5b8yxaNWUW5ZfdCR5Zu1KMJn - is the public address

and for the WIF private key I'd have Kw**********jcQmKRPNTF8CU9H1thzC981DCrZgmS4m8ygXFCEk (this is just an example, no funds are here)

basically I want to always have search for private key start at 'Kw', then search for missing 10, and end with 'jcQmKRPNTF8CU9H1thzC981DCrZgmS4m8ygXFCEk'

Any advice is appreciated and examples are even more appreciated. I do have a programming background, but I don't have much experience programming to use GPUs, which I imagine I am going to need, so I am open to any and all suggestions, other than just giving the key over to someone. I will offer a reward to anyone who successfully helps me with this too.

Or is 10 characters just too many possible combos. All advice is much appreciated!

Thank you,
S.

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[BitMaxz]

What do you mean ^{"it destroyed part of a WIF private key"}?
Is the private key you talking about is on a piece of paper? I think I misunderstood the notebook is it the laptop?

That's too many missing characters actually some tools out there can only recover if the private key has missing 1 up to 5 characters.

However, would you mind to try the tool developed by Coding Enthusiast
Let's hope his tool will work to find the missing character you can find the tool from this thread below

- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5214021.0

Or go directly on Github https://github.com/Coding-Enthusiast/FinderOuter

[soferox]

What do you mean ^{"it destroyed part of a WIF private key"}?
Is the private key you talking about is on a piece of paper? I think I misunderstood the notebook is it the laptop?

That's too many missing characters actually some tools out there can only recover if the private key has missing 1 up to 5 characters.

However, would you mind to try the tool developed by Coding Enthusiast
Let's hope his tool will work to find the missing character you can find the tool from this thread below

- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5214021.0

Or go directly on Github https://github.com/Coding-Enthusiast/FinderOuter

It was a paper wallet, so yes the water destroyed the ink on the paper. I have already done a CPU based search and it was going to take like 2.5 centuries or something to solve it, so I am wanting to attempt with GPUs to see if I can solve this any faster. I know how FinderOuter works and with an i7 it can do around 74 million combos a second, but I am going to need something in the billions to solve this soon, and I know GPUs can definitely reach that height.

Thank you though for your answer

Thanks,
S.

[mynonce]

It was a paper wallet...

Chemical analysis of the paper 

[soferox]

It was a paper wallet...

Chemical analysis of the paper 

There is nothing left. It mushed up the paper and ink. basically it has a big chunk missing out of the top left of it.

[Caoverdex]

I have a question. Recently there was a flood and a notebook containing a offline wallet was damage and it destroyed part of a WIF private key, so now I basically have:

do you have the seed phrase or only saved the PK?

[mynonce]

and for the WIF private key I'd have Kw**********jcQmKRPNTF8CU9H1thzC981DCrZgmS4m8ygXFCEk (this is just an example, no funds are here)

Is the paper missing after Kw or is there enough paper for some letters, so that the chemical analysis would help you to recover some more characters to make the calculation easier?

For example:
Kw**********jcQ...

** -> paper / chemical analysis / recover characters
****** -> hole / no paper

-> so you would have 6 missing characters

[soferox]

I have a question. Recently there was a flood and a notebook containing a offline wallet was damage and it destroyed part of a WIF private key, so now I basically have:

do you have the seed phrase or only saved the PK?

Its just a PK from many many years ago.

[soferox]

and for the WIF private key I'd have Kw**********jcQmKRPNTF8CU9H1thzC981DCrZgmS4m8ygXFCEk (this is just an example, no funds are here)

Is the paper missing after Kw or is there enough paper for some letters, so that the chemical analysis would help you to recover some more characters to make the calculation easier?

For example:
Kw**********jcQ...

** -> paper / chemical analysis / recover characters
****** -> hole / no paper

-> so you would have 6 missing characters

the paper turned to mush. There is no hope of any kind of analysis.

[mynonce]

the paper turned to mush. There is no hope of any kind of analysis.

Do you have the compressed/uncompressed public key or outgoing transactions from that address?

[soferox]

the paper turned to mush. There is no hope of any kind of analysis.

Do you have the compressed/uncompressed public key or outgoing transactions from that address?

I have the public address which will have transactions on it yes. Does that help any?
I basically only have the damage WIF key and the public address like in the example in original post.

[NotATether]

See my answer on Jean Luc's Kangaroo thread:

I have a question. Recently there was a flood and a notebook containing a offline wallet was damage and it destroyed part of a WIF private key, so now I basically have:

Kw**********(I have the next 40 characters, just not posting for obvious reasons), so I am missing 10 characters in all.

I also have the public key. Is it possible to use this software to start a search at Kw... and iterate over the missing 10 characters with the known 40 characters also in the key.

For example : 1GuqEWwH5iRZ89oo5xw26FqmyZFMWZrtPi - is the public address

and for the WIF private key I'd have Kw**********JzXaqU2rcFSoaLaehAQHqoQX1cWCo92tAA3ihLJ7

basically I want to always have search for private key start at 'Kw', then search for missing 10, and end with 'JzXaqU2rcFSoaLaehAQHqoQX1cWCo92tAA3ihLJ7'

Any advice is appreciated and examples are even more appreciated

Thank you,
S.

The "K" at the beginning stands for an uncompressed private key so effectively one character is ruled out.

You should probably use bitcrack with a stride of "244 62 8 66 47 124 80 157 248 14 101 42 20 166 75 38 90 171 48 143 193 217 43 86 127 213 68 99 176 225 142 231 221 232 209 1 232 119 87 59 159 250 92" (these are grouped in three digits - where there's less than three digits then put zeros at the beginning).

Then you set the start range to "62 15 48 27 224 252 140 123 196 154 246 145 249 147 190 242 245 119 253 137 57 120 87 229 177 249 235 57 188 105 162 106 16 38 232 62 226 68 207 61 60 159 137 16 30 135 117 115 185 255 165 192" (3E 0F 30 1B E0 FC 8C 7B C4 9A F6 91 F9 93 BE F2 F5 77 FD 89 39 78 57 E5 B1 F9 EB 39 BC 69 A2 6A 10 26 E8 3E E2 44 CF 3D 3C 9F 89 10 1E 87 75 73 B9 FF A5 C0, or: w1111111111JzXa.....)

and the end range to "63 53 101 37 224 105 133 154 79 164 116 14 184 245 198 239 210 247 218 39 60 17 143 67 53 249 245 92 6 253 234 184 11 67 248 114 161 110 81 101 39 66 237 125 158 135 117 115 185 255 165 192" (3F 35 65 25 E0 69 85 9A 4F A4 74 0E B8 F5 C6 EF D2 F7 DA 27 3C 11 8F 43 35 F9 F5 5C 06 FD EA B8 0B 43 F8 72 A1 6E 51 65 27 42 ED 7D 9E 87 75 73 B9 FF A5 C0, or: wzzzzzzzzzzJzXa....).

Make sure you only search for uncompressed keys to speed things up.

In one command:

./bitcrack -u --keyspace 0x3E0F301BE0FC8C7BC49AF691F993BEF2F577FD89397857E5B1F9EB39BC69A26A1026E83EE244C F3D3C9F89101E877573B9FFA5C0:0x3F356525E069859A4FA4740EB8F5C6EFD2F7DA273C118F4335F9F55C06FDEAB80B43F872A16E5 1652742ED7D9E877573B9FFA5C0 --stride 2440620080660471240801572480141010420201660750380901710481431932170430861272130 68099176225142231221232209001232119087059159250092

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

Note: it's important to place your public address at the end of the command (after the stride), although I did not write that in the other post.

[mynonce]

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

[soferox]

See my answer on Jean Luc's Kangaroo thread:

I have a question. Recently there was a flood and a notebook containing a offline wallet was damage and it destroyed part of a WIF private key, so now I basically have:

Kw**********(I have the next 40 characters, just not posting for obvious reasons), so I am missing 10 characters in all.

I also have the public key. Is it possible to use this software to start a search at Kw... and iterate over the missing 10 characters with the known 40 characters also in the key.

For example : 1GuqEWwH5iRZ89oo5xw26FqmyZFMWZrtPi - is the public address

and for the WIF private key I'd have Kw**********JzXaqU2rcFSoaLaehAQHqoQX1cWCo92tAA3ihLJ7

basically I want to always have search for private key start at 'Kw', then search for missing 10, and end with 'JzXaqU2rcFSoaLaehAQHqoQX1cWCo92tAA3ihLJ7'

Any advice is appreciated and examples are even more appreciated

Thank you,
S.

The "K" at the beginning stands for an uncompressed private key so effectively one character is ruled out.

You should probably use bitcrack with a stride of "244 62 8 66 47 124 80 157 248 14 101 42 20 166 75 38 90 171 48 143 193 217 43 86 127 213 68 99 176 225 142 231 221 232 209 1 232 119 87 59 159 250 92" (these are grouped in three digits - where there's less than three digits then put zeros at the beginning).

Then you set the start range to "62 15 48 27 224 252 140 123 196 154 246 145 249 147 190 242 245 119 253 137 57 120 87 229 177 249 235 57 188 105 162 106 16 38 232 62 226 68 207 61 60 159 137 16 30 135 117 115 185 255 165 192" (3E 0F 30 1B E0 FC 8C 7B C4 9A F6 91 F9 93 BE F2 F5 77 FD 89 39 78 57 E5 B1 F9 EB 39 BC 69 A2 6A 10 26 E8 3E E2 44 CF 3D 3C 9F 89 10 1E 87 75 73 B9 FF A5 C0, or: w1111111111JzXa.....)

and the end range to "63 53 101 37 224 105 133 154 79 164 116 14 184 245 198 239 210 247 218 39 60 17 143 67 53 249 245 92 6 253 234 184 11 67 248 114 161 110 81 101 39 66 237 125 158 135 117 115 185 255 165 192" (3F 35 65 25 E0 69 85 9A 4F A4 74 0E B8 F5 C6 EF D2 F7 DA 27 3C 11 8F 43 35 F9 F5 5C 06 FD EA B8 0B 43 F8 72 A1 6E 51 65 27 42 ED 7D 9E 87 75 73 B9 FF A5 C0, or: wzzzzzzzzzzJzXa....).

Make sure you only search for uncompressed keys to speed things up.

In one command:

./bitcrack -u --keyspace 0x3E0F301BE0FC8C7BC49AF691F993BEF2F577FD89397857E5B1F9EB39BC69A26A1026E83EE244C F3D3C9F89101E877573B9FFA5C0:0x3F356525E069859A4FA4740EB8F5C6EFD2F7DA273C118F4335F9F55C06FDEAB80B43F872A16E5 1652742ED7D9E877573B9FFA5C0 --stride 2440620080660471240801572480141010420201660750380901710481431932170430861272130 68099176225142231221232209001232119087059159250092

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

Note: it's important to place your public address at the end of the command (after the stride), although I did not write that in the other post.

'

I thought WIF keys that began with K or L were compressed keys and WIF keys that began with 5 were the uncompressed ones? Also I am a bit confused how I get those big numbers with only the public address and a WIF key that is missing characters. Could you elaborate anymore? I apologize I am fairly new to learning about all this.

[soferox]

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

Sadly this was an offline wallet, so it only ever had incoming transaction. It has never sent out.

[mynonce]

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

Sadly this was an offline wallet, so it only ever had incoming transaction. It has never sent out.

So that would be very easy. ~60 missing bits, we would have the private key within minutes.

[soferox]

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

Sadly this was an offline wallet, so it only ever had incoming transaction. It has never sent out.

So that would be very easy. ~60 missing bits, we would have the private key within minutes.

Really? I thought with 10 missing characters that was 58^10th or a large number and it was going to take centuries to solve this. How exactly do I solve this in minutes? What tool should I use, or is there something custom? I am willing to pay a bounty for someone assisting me to set this up on machine.

[mynonce]

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

Sadly this was an offline wallet, so it only ever had incoming transaction. It has never sent out.

So that would be very easy. ~60 missing bits, we would have the private key within minutes.

Really? I thought with 10 missing characters that was 58^10th or a large number and it was going to take centuries to solve this. How exactly do I solve this in minutes? What tool should I use, or is there something custom? I am willing to pay a bounty for someone assisting me to set this up on machine.

We don't have an outgoing transaction, so we can't do it with pollard or kangaroo.

[soferox]

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

Sadly this was an offline wallet, so it only ever had incoming transaction. It has never sent out.

So that would be very easy. ~60 missing bits, we would have the private key within minutes.

Really? I thought with 10 missing characters that was 58^10th or a large number and it was going to take centuries to solve this. How exactly do I solve this in minutes? What tool should I use, or is there something custom? I am willing to pay a bounty for someone assisting me to set this up on machine.

We don't have an outgoing transaction, so we can't do it with pollard or kangaroo.

You said above that we could do it in minutes. Is that not possible now since we don't have any outgoing TXs?

Thanks,
S.

[NotATether]

I thought WIF keys that began with K or L were compressed keys and WIF keys that began with 5 were the uncompressed ones? Also I am a bit confused how I get those big numbers with only the public address and a WIF key that is missing characters. Could you elaborate anymore? I apologize I am fairly new to learning about all this.

Yeah you're right - my memory was a bit rusty. In any case just replace the -u flag with -c.

I simply converted the base58 of the lower characters to decimal (and hex). First I went to this page: https://www.dcode.fr/base-58-cipher

And then I pasted the characters after the lost 10 chars inside the page. Before the characters, I pated the 'w' (since you know you have that), followed the 10 characters lowest possible private keys that still base-58 encode into w........JzXaqU2rcFSoaLaehAQHqoQX1cWCo92tAA3ihLJ7 - replace the dots with 10 "1" (the number one) characters. Because 1 is the first digit of base8 number system. The resulting hex gives the starting range.

Then to get the end range, you repeat the process but instead of ten 1 characters, you insert 10 'z' characters (the highest character in base58 is lowercase 'z').

To get the stride, I simply converted the lower part of the base58 you had (the one after the dots).

To determine the start and end ranges and the stride, you only need part of the WIF, not the public address.

These steps will create a range and strie that is suitable to input inside Bitcrack.

It has a difficulty of log2(58**10) = 58.5798 bits, this is doable if you have a few GPUs.

If there is an outgoing transaction, then with the un/compressed public key and kangaroo or pollard, also possible.

Sadly this was an offline wallet, so it only ever had incoming transaction. It has never sent out.

No problem, because Bitcrack is more efficient than Kangaroo for your problem (also, Kangaroo will only work if you have the public key, not the address).

Really? I thought with 10 missing characters that was 58^10th or a large number and it was going to take centuries to solve this. How exactly do I solve this in minutes? What tool should I use, or is there something custom? I am willing to pay a bounty for someone assisting me to set this up on machine.

58**10 is a very large number, however to estimate the difficulty, you need the equivalent power in base 2, so what we do is we take the log2 of the result: log2(58**10). Then if gives us the difficulty in bits: such that 2**bits == 58**10 (here, bits equals 58.a_fractional_part).

Difficulty can also be written as "10 base 8 characters", but its common for programs to estimate it in terms of bits as well.

This will probably not take minutes unless you have a large GPU farm, but a few weeks is a more accurate estimate. Since Bitcrack can only talk to 1 GPU as far as I know.