Where is my BTC from 2010? Help

[monTTana]

Hi.  I have an unusual problem.  In 2010, I was mining BTC on my PC.  I did this for one year.  I forgot about cryto currency late and remembered now.  I still have this computer and disk.  But I have absolutely no idea where the BTC is.  Can you help me?

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[NotFuzzyWarm]

The BTC is in cyberspace. What you need is the public address and private key(s) used for the wallet. Find the version of Core you were running and look for Wallet.dat. If you have it then fire up Core and get the address & keys from the wallet.

From there IMMEDIATELY xfr the BTC to a new and secure wallet for safe storage & HODL or cash some out through an exchange.

[BitMaxz]

Do you still remember what exactly wallet you are using before? If it's bitcoin-qt then the above is right look for the wallet.dat file you can mostly find it in the bitcoin folder under AppData/Roaming/bitcoin.

Or use the search button just go to your drive then search and use the "wallet" keyword to find it.
Once you find it make sure bitcoin-qt is closed because sometimes if the bitcoin-qt is running while copying the wallet.dat it would become corrupted. So make sure it's closed then don't forget to make multiple copies before you try to extract the private key from wallet.dat.

You can also use pywallet to dump private keys from wallet.dat.

[joniboini]

If you never wipe/format the disk then what has been suggested above should work. If not, try a data recovery app and look for the file. If it fails to recognize any or if the data has been corrupted then the chance of recovering your coins is low. Are you sure you don't keep a backup somewhere?

[SweetL0u]

You might want to bring this to someone that knows where to look and how to check every corner of that hard drive. You have to understand that he will take a % of the treasure to compensate for the work and experience required.

Cheers,

[nc50lc]

I have an unusual problem.

It's not "unusual", in fact we have a few threads here who claimed to had mined bitcoins in 2010.
Some have no backup whatsoever which is unfortunate, but most are lies who just gained access to fake wallet.dat with tampered-in balance from 2010 mined coins.

Since you have yours, then you're lucky, just do not answer any PMs that you'll receive who are offering "help" since this kind of thread is a magnet to scammers.
As much as possible, keep the discussion public but do not post any sensitive information like "private keys".

BTW, location of the "wallet.dat" file depends on your OS. (Bitcoin Core's version is a given)

[monTTana]

The BTC is in cyberspace. What you need is the public address and private key(s) used for the wallet. Find the version of Core you were running and look for Wallet.dat. If you have it then fire up Core and get the address & keys from the wallet.

From there IMMEDIATELY xfr the BTC to a new and secure wallet for safe storage & HODL or cash some out through an exchange.

Thanks guys for your help. I will try to find it.
And what about another wallets? They also had a file wallet.dat?

[BlackHatCoiner]

There was no Bitcoin Core in 2010. The first Bitcoin Core release was in March 2014 (0.9.0). Before that there was Bitcoin-Qt (with first release in November 2011), and (experimental) Bitcoin (with first release in January 2009). Are you sure you'd been mining in 2010? If that's so, you must have done it with one of the very first Bitcoin releases. The coin recovery requires possession of the wallet.dat file.

[hosseinimr93]

There was no Bitcoin Core in 2010. The first Bitcoin Core release was in March 2014 (0.9.0). Before that there was Bitcoin-Qt (with first release in November 2011), and (experimental) Bitcoin (with first release in January 2009).

It was only the name that was changed and there isn't any big difference between them. Bitcoin QT was actually rebranded to bitcoin core in that time. Whether a wallet has been created by bitcoin QT or Bitcoin core, it should have created a wallet.dat file.
Please correct me, if I am wrong please.

To OP:
Since you have used your wallet for mining in 2010, you should have a wallet.dat file.

As already mentioned above, try to find a wallet.dat file or your private keys.
Note that if your wallet.dat file is encrypted, you will need the passphrase for decryption as well.  

[BlackHatCoiner]

Please correct me, if I am wrong please.

You're not wrong. Perhaps I need to emphasize it: With only one year ahead of the genesis block, the only wallet software he could have used is this, provided that he owned the coins. If he stated he had been mining in 2012, or 2014, there would have been a variety of wallet software that he might had used.

[nc50lc]

-snip-
And what about another wallets? They also had a file wallet.dat?

If it's a year later, early Electrum had a wallet file with ".dat" file extension but it's named "electrum.dat".

For the other wallets, it depends on how and when (months) you mined your bitcoins:

• Was is early or late 2010?
• Have you used a miner software to mine using your CPU or GPU?

To others, please don't answer/correct these questions, it has to be OP...

[Pmalek]

You might want to bring this to someone that knows where to look and how to check every corner of that hard drive.

That should be OP's last resort, and not the first thing to do. Proper recovery instructions have already been provided. If OP gave us the correct information and the computer with its hard drive are still running smoothly, they should be able to access the coins. Let's just hope there isn't a password used for encryption that monTTana has forgotten about.