Help! I think I've lost my Ethereum but not in the way you might think

[elonoreblush]

I think I've lost my Ethereum, but not in the way you might think. I have neither lost my private key nor have I been scammed, altough I'm still really new to crypto.

I bought several Ethereum on an exchange and created an Ethereum webwallet that I can use to print out my wallet. I sent the Ethereum to the wallet and stored my private key securely in several places. (Fireproof safe in my apartment and so on).

I now wanted to use my Ethereum as I have some student fees and other stuff to pay, then I realized that something must be wrong with the private key what I didn't noticed before.

I can't import the private key into most common wallets like Metamask without getting an error message, the only wallet I can import the private key into is the OKX wallet, but I can't send or swap my Ethereum. I get the error “Wallet Sign Error” when sending and the error “wrong address format” when swapping.

But I think there is also a good sign, after importing my private key to the OKX wallet, the private key leads to the address that holds my Ethereum. The key definitely leads to my Ethereum and the funds are there.

What I also noticed is that my private key looks very strange compared to other private keys, which I didn't realize at the time of creating. I can't say too much about it because I don't know if anyone could guess my key from it, but my key starts with the letter f which repeats extremely often before my private finally ends in a random combination.

I tried to find the webwallet I used back then to move my funds from there, but the site doesn't seem to exist anymore. I also found out through my research that it is usually common to get a seed of words that leads to the funds, instead of a key but I only got the key, which definitely leads to my funds through the OKX wallet.

I am grateful for any help, I urgently need my funds  

[BitMaxz]

Pretty bad if the web wallet you mention is totally gone then it is possible you generated a web wallet from a phishing site.

However, it seems that you have the right private key if it starts with f then it is a hexadecimal format private key and maybe metamask do not support it and the bad thing you did the way you imported it is pretty risky you tried to import it into OKX wallet we do not how safe is OKX wallet since its not opensource.

I think you can try to import it to mew offline wallet that you can download here https://github.com/MyEtherWallet/MyEtherWallet/releases/tag/v6.9.8

But the problem is I never made an offline transaction with this you can try their online version here https://www.myetherwallet.com/wallet/access then go to the bottom under software and import the private key there and then make a transaction right a way and send it to a new wallet make sure to backup the wallet for future recovery.

[elonoreblush]

Pretty bad if the web wallet you mention is totally gone then it is possible you generated a web wallet from a phishing site.

However, it seems that you have the right private key if it starts with f then it is a hexadecimal format private key and maybe metamask do not support it and the bad thing you did the way you imported it is pretty risky you tried to import it into OKX wallet we do not how safe is OKX wallet since its not opensource.

I think you can try to import it to mew offline wallet that you can download here https://github.com/MyEtherWallet/MyEtherWallet/releases/tag/v6.9.8

But the problem is I never made an offline transaction with this you can try their online version here https://www.myetherwallet.com/wallet/access then go to the bottom under software and import the private key there and then make a transaction right a way and send it to a new wallet make sure to backup the wallet for future recovery.

Thank you for your reply, I have tried many different ones including the MyEtherWallet you mentioned, but the only wallet that syncs my private key and shows me my funds is the OKX wallet but when I try to move or swap my funds I get these weird error messages, glad to know my funds are their though. I am very desperate right now  

[BitMaxz]

Thank you for your reply, I have tried many different ones including the MyEtherWallet you mentioned, but the only wallet that syncs my private key and shows me my funds is the OKX wallet but when I try to move or swap my funds I get these weird error messages, glad to know my funds are their though. I am very desperate right now  

That's weird if you already tried my suggestion but you can't see your balance since you can see the balance in your OKX wallet maybe you bought Ethereum from the exchange and then withdrew it with a different network which is why it didn't show up in your MEW wallet.

Why not post the public wallet address here or the ETH address that starts with 0x I might be wrong or right but you better check the exchanges where you bought it and check the transaction and the network you use.
Once you found what network you use then you can go to MEW wallet again and change the network sample ETH in BNB network or polygon network. Mew wallet has limited network support so I don't know the exchange you used when you bought ETH better check the transaction that you withdrew from that exchange to know what network.

If the mew does not support the network you better tell us what network it is using I will try to find a safe wallet that supports it.

[blckhawk]

Either you're importing a non-existent keys or there wasn't really any wallet created for you at that time, that's the only thing that I can think for why you can't access your Ethereum wallet and the Ethereum in it. What web wallet are you talking about exactly? That's going to be a big deal here because people has to know about these things right to help you. Only way to help you is to give as much information that doesn't involve your wallet or anything like that, let this moment be a lesson to you too, that you should probably stick with the trusted and fully established wallets and always do a test on your access to them because if you don't, you're bound to do it again. Hopefully, someone would be able to help you though.

[elonoreblush]

Thank you for your reply, I have tried many different ones including the MyEtherWallet you mentioned, but the only wallet that syncs my private key and shows me my funds is the OKX wallet but when I try to move or swap my funds I get these weird error messages, glad to know my funds are their though. I am very desperate right now  

That's weird if you already tried my suggestion but you can't see your balance since you can see the balance in your OKX wallet maybe you bought Ethereum from the exchange and then withdrew it with a different network which is why it didn't show up in your MEW wallet.

Why not post the public wallet address here or the ETH address that starts with 0x I might be wrong or right but you better check the exchanges where you bought it and check the transaction and the network you use.
Once you found what network you use then you can go to MEW wallet again and change the network sample ETH in BNB network or polygon network. Mew wallet has limited network support so I don't know the exchange you used when you bought ETH better check the transaction that you withdrew from that exchange to know what network.

If the mew does not support the network you better tell us what network it is using I will try to find a safe wallet that supports it.

Thank you, but my funds would probably be displayed, but the private key is not accepted by the wallet. It is not that my funds are not displayed, but that the key cannot be imported in the first place, that is the problem.

I haven't posted the address because I don't want people to know how much Ethereum I hold, money is a private thing to me

[elonoreblush]

Either you're importing a non-existent keys or there wasn't really any wallet created for you at that time, that's the only thing that I can think for why you can't access your Ethereum wallet and the Ethereum in it. What web wallet are you talking about exactly? That's going to be a big deal here because people has to know about these things right to help you. Only way to help you is to give as much information that doesn't involve your wallet or anything like that, let this moment be a lesson to you too, that you should probably stick with the trusted and fully established wallets and always do a test on your access to them because if you don't, you're bound to do it again. Hopefully, someone would be able to help you though.

If I only would knew that, I only remember roughly what the web wallet looked like and unfortunately there is no hint on the printout either

[makishart]

Either you're importing a non-existent keys or there wasn't really any wallet created for you at that time, that's the only thing that I can think for why you can't access your Ethereum wallet and the Ethereum in it. What web wallet are you talking about exactly? That's going to be a big deal here because people has to know about these things right to help you. Only way to help you is to give as much information that doesn't involve your wallet or anything like that, let this moment be a lesson to you too, that you should probably stick with the trusted and fully established wallets and always do a test on your access to them because if you don't, you're bound to do it again. Hopefully, someone would be able to help you though.

If I only would knew that, I only remember roughly what the web wallet looked like and unfortunately there is no hint on the printout either

Can you be more specific about that? Just like this

An unencrypted private key is 64 characters long, and it is used to restore wallets. An encrypted key is also 64 letters long and is a regular private key that has gone through the process of encryption, as defined above.

https://help.myetherwallet.com/en/articles/5377833-a-glossary-of-common-terms-in-the-ethereum-crypto-community

You must also try to mention how long the characters are on your privatekey. At least gave some clues that is not related to your sensitive data. It may be useful to help us identify what kind of privatekey it is.

It's hard to guess if you are only mentioning your priv key started with F.

[ryzaadit]

As long the fund is in your (Crypto Address) you are fine.

Did you ever check the address you own or connect to the private key you are own, first step to make your self is not panicked? Check first your fund on (Explorer), If you have a fund on there and you just passed the first step (meaning, your fund on there).

Private Key should work on any wallet, It's just like (masterkey). Have you tried with (Metamask) ? Import your private key into (Metamask) wallet, and tried to spend on there. BTW, If the fund not showup (especially token) have you tried to import manually the asset ?