Have Raw private key stored in csv file, not stored in wallet.dat file

[RawBitcoinGuy]

So i have come across an old bitcoin file from 2012. Its not a wallet.dat file and its not encrypted in any way. Its a .csv file and a .txt file and when i open it, its just tons of numbers in decimal format. basically a private key in a rather raw format.

the first line is 15 digits, second line is 9 digits, 3rd is 8 digits, 4th is 15 digits, and so on...

the file has thousands of rows, no commas. if i remember correctly, its roughly 1 BTC. the guy i bought it from transferred it off a 8gb flash drive straight into my computer. I believe he instructed me to use it to create a wallet on electrum or bitcoin core, but I never did. I have no wallet.dat file. just numbers in a csv file.

How do i extract the private key from this file and generate a wallet out of it?

[BitMaxz]

I never heard that Bitcoin core or Electrum generates a .csv wallet backup maybe that backup is your list of addresses or transaction history.

If there are other more files I suggest look for backup wallet files listed from this link below

- https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover/blob/master/TUTORIAL.md#running-btcrecover

[DaveF]

How many characters in total are there?
If it's in the few hundred from back then it might be an ASN.1 key.

Or a DER key: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145080.0

Do you have the address / addresses themselves?

-Dave

[odolvlobo]

... the guy i bought it from ...

Sad to say that you were probably scammed.

How do i extract the private key from this file and generate a wallet out of it?

Generally, you install a wallet such as Electrum and import the key, but your description doesn't match any format that I've ever seen.

Here are some examples of private keys:

Hex: E9873D79C6D87DC0FB6A5778633389F4453213303DA61F20BD67FC233AA33262
WIF: Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF5
Base 64: TWFueSBoYW5kcyBtY/WtlIGxpZ2h0I+Hdvcmsu36hWg=

[ABCbits]

OP, try to these visit these pages and check whether example mentioned on those pages have similar format with data on your csv file.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/List_of_address_prefixes
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mini_private_key_format

I never heard that Bitcoin core or Electrum generates a .csv wallet backup maybe that backup is your list of addresses or transaction history.

I also don't remembre Bitcoin Core having such feature. dumpwallet create human-readable text file, but it's not in CSV format. But Electrum actually offer such feature. Here's a screenshot i take from Electrum version 4.5.0.



P.S. Do not use those private keys/address. I generate new wallet only to create this screenshot, so i'm not risking any real Bitcoin.

[DannyHamilton]

Sounds like a scam, but just in case it isn't what is the name of the csv file and what is the name of the txt file?

[NotATether]

The numbers can be converted into hex using any offline utility, and from there are are quite a few programs and scripts that can convert between hexadecimal and WIF private keys.

If there happens to be any error during either of the conversion processes then that most likely means that the private key you have received is invalid, as the format has not changed at all over the years.

[DaveF]

The OP has not come back, but remember in years past there were a lot of oddball things that people did in the way they gave out keys.
Read this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5231305.msg62449495#msg62449495 and my reply to it just below it.



This is an ASN.1 key:

Code:

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

That some people (who knows why) also used to use.

So never underestimate the ability of people to create a complicated mess for no good reason.

-Dave

[RawBitcoinGuy]

Thanks guys for all your help on the matter.

The file is saved under the name bitcoin and has a country attached to it. there are 2 csv files named bitcoin with different countries attached to each.

[BitMaxz]

Thanks guys for all your help on the matter.

The file is saved under the name bitcoin and has a country attached to it. there are 2 csv files named bitcoin with different countries attached to each.

That's pretty hard to guess if it's a wallet backup or not why not make a screenshot of the 2 files and where the countries are attached to the files?
I tried to research but I couldn't find someone have a CSV backup wallet.

If I were you try to make a screenshot of what it looks like and open it with notepad++ and check, make a sample that looks similar format to what is inside the CSV file and post it here with an insert code tag(A # button when editing a post.) make sure you didn't copy the whole part just make a similar code so that we can compare if it's the same format as the normal wallet file.

[RawBitcoinGuy]

The file is like this

1000054567203
3425593
299502494
1000449594949
1000000383889
5046663838

And so on… it takes up all the rows A1-A2000 on most of the files. It’s only data in the A column on the csv file.

 

[nc50lc]

And so on… it takes up all the rows A1-A2000 on most of the files. It’s only data in the A column on the csv file.

That could happen when a ".txt" file's extension is renamed into ".csv" file.
Each line of the text file will be inserted into the first column (A) of its csv file counterpart.
That's unless the csv file is specifically written on its column A exclusively.

And since your old post was deleted, I'll re-insert my reply here in your new thread:

the guy i bought it from transferred it off a 8gb flash drive straight into my computer.
-snip-

This still needs its own topic, so please consider starting your own thread if you want to push the discussion towards that bought csv file.
Its similarity to OP's "probably bought wallet/file" doesn't make this on-topic.

By the way, 100% of those 'for sale' wallet.dat or "lost" backup files are scam, don't expect anything from it.

As you can see in others' replies, the consensus here is you're most likely been scammed.