HELP! Failed to sweep Legacy private key

[willchyn]

Hi I've came upon a bitcoin private key from my late grandpa.
It's a legacy type that starts with 5.

I've tried to import the private key into a Titan wallet and it does shows me how much funds is inside.
However when I tried to send it to exchange with ellipal app, it shows the error "BAD PUBKEY"

I tried to sweep the funds with Electrum but the 'sweep' button is greyed out, indicating its not algorithmically correct.
(also tried to input example legacy keys found online that starts with 5, and the 'sweep' button is NOT greyed out)

I checked with bitaddress.org (offline) and it shows the message "The text you entered is not a valid private key, Error: BigInteger equal to zero"

I'm confused how is it that I can import the private keys into Titan/Ellipal (even tho it won't let me move the funds), but I can't sweep it with Electrum?
If there's a typo in the private key, shouldn't it failed to show the funds on Titan? Thanks

[OmegaStarScream]

I'm not familiar with titan wallet but it's definitely strange that you managed to import other legacy private keys to Electrum but not the one you have.  I highly doubt there is something wrong with Electrum but could you try to use Exodus and see what does that give you?

Also please avoid inputting the PKs online. Bitaddress is legit but you shouldn't be using it online.

[willchyn]

Yes I did the Bitaddress using offline mode, I download the HTML and disconnect my internet connection.
Lemme try Exodus first, thanks

[willchyn]

Hi I tried using Exodus and it shows

"Unable to Add BTC
Please try the move funds feature again in a few minutes"
I waited and retry a few more times with the same result

If I tried to change some of the characters to make it an invalid key it shows
"Unable to Add BTC
You entered an invalid BTC private key"

so my deduction is there's something that is preventing the funds from being moved.
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1FYMZEHnszCHKTBdFZ2DLrUuk3dGwYKQxh
The address periodically receive a small amounts of BTC tho, so that's weird

[OmegaStarScream]

Hi I tried using Exodus and it shows

"Unable to Add BTC
Please try the move funds feature again in a few minutes"
I waited and retry a few more times with the same result

If I tried to change some of the characters to make it an invalid key it shows
"Unable to Add BTC
You entered an invalid BTC private key"

so my deduction is there's something that is preventing the funds from being moved.
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1FYMZEHnszCHKTBdFZ2DLrUuk3dGwYKQxh
The address periodically receive a small amounts of BTC tho, so that's weird

I'm not sure what kind of checking Electrum does when you try to sweep... does it just check whether the key is valid, or also whether the funds are spendable (prior to clicking the button).

To confirm whether your theory is valid based on what you have experienced with Exodus, maybe you can try to "Import the private key" to Electrum instead of sweeping it and see if you manage to do that (and if the transactions history, and everything else shows) or if the buttons stay greyed out.

[willchyn]

Hi I tried using Exodus and it shows

"Unable to Add BTC
Please try the move funds feature again in a few minutes"
I waited and retry a few more times with the same result

If I tried to change some of the characters to make it an invalid key it shows
"Unable to Add BTC
You entered an invalid BTC private key"

so my deduction is there's something that is preventing the funds from being moved.
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1FYMZEHnszCHKTBdFZ2DLrUuk3dGwYKQxh
The address periodically receive a small amounts of BTC tho, so that's weird

I'm not sure what kind of checking Electrum does when you try to sweep... does it just check whether the key is valid, or also whether the funds are spendable (prior to clicking the button).

To confirm whether your theory is valid based on what you have experienced with Exodus, maybe you can try to "Import the private key" to Electrum instead of sweeping it and see if you manage to do that (and if the transactions history, and everything else shows) or if the buttons stay greyed out.

Tried to import when creating new wallet in Electrum, the button stays greyed out.
In bitcoin as long as I have the private key, I should have full access the my funds right? (There is no potential locking of the funds or wallet like other blockchains)

[OmegaStarScream]

Tried to import when creating new wallet in Electrum, the button stays greyed out.
In bitcoin as long as I have the private key, I should have full access the my funds right? (There is no potential locking of the funds or wallet like other blockchains)

That's correct. A (valid) private key is all you need to recover your funds. It's definitely a bit worrying that you couldn't import it with any of the wallets out there though.

Maybe some knowledgeable members could shed more light on this. Just be careful, as some scammers might try to DM you.

[willchyn]

Tried to import when creating new wallet in Electrum, the button stays greyed out.
In bitcoin as long as I have the private key, I should have full access the my funds right? (There is no potential locking of the funds or wallet like other blockchains)

That's correct. A (valid) private key is all you need to recover your funds. It's definitely a bit worrying that you couldn't import it with any of the wallets out there though.

Maybe some knowledgeable members could shed more light on this. Just be careful, as some scammers might try to DM you.

Thanks, here's hoping someone have the experience to solve this problem

[nc50lc]

I tried to sweep the funds with Electrum but the 'sweep' button is greyed out, indicating its not algorithmically correct.
(also tried to input example legacy keys found online that starts with 5, and the 'sweep' button is NOT greyed out)

I checked with bitaddress.org (offline) and it shows the message "The text you entered is not a valid private key, Error: BigInteger equal to zero"

Is your granpa's private key: 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAbuatmU?
Because that's one of the invalid Bitcoin private keys out of valid range, specifically private key 0x00.
Thought so because of Bitaddress' error message.

And since it's outside range, that's invalid despite being a correctly constructed WIF private key.

[willchyn]

I tried to sweep the funds with Electrum but the 'sweep' button is greyed out, indicating its not algorithmically correct.
(also tried to input example legacy keys found online that starts with 5, and the 'sweep' button is NOT greyed out)

I checked with bitaddress.org (offline) and it shows the message "The text you entered is not a valid private key, Error: BigInteger equal to zero"

Is your granpa's private key: 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAbuatmU?
Because that's one of the invalid Bitcoin private keys out of valid range, specifically private key 0x00.
Thought so because of Bitaddress' error message.

And since it's outside range, that's invalid despite being a correctly constructed WIF private key.

Damn that's the exact key that I have, sucks to find out its widely known by the community and getting my hopes up to help with financial problems 
Thanks for the help anyways, appreciate it

[LoyceV]

I've tried to import the private key into a Titan wallet
I tried to sweep the funds with Electrum

Yes I did the Bitaddress using offline mode, I download the HTML and disconnect my internet connection.
Lemme try Exodus first, thanks

Each wallet and each import action increases the risk. Using Bitaddress offline isn't enough if you go online again later on the same computer.

so my deduction is there's something that is preventing the funds from being moved.

There is no such "something". The only thing preventing funds from being moved, is not knowing the correct private key.

https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1FYMZEHnszCHKTBdFZ2DLrUuk3dGwYKQxh

How did you derive that address from the private key?

Is your granpa's private key: 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAbuatmU?

You got all this from OPs posts? I'm impressed!

So either OP's grandpa got scammed, or he played one hell of a joke even after his death.

[nc50lc]

Is your granpa's private key: 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAbuatmU?

You got all this from OPs posts? I'm impressed!

The best clue is the error he got from Bitaddress.

I tried to reproduce it with private key 0's WIF format and the result is positive,
I've also tried other invalid private keys and the errors aren't the same (the site is surprisingly specific).

Other clues are just from Electrum's behavior to check for the provided private key's validity and OP's statement that the WIF private key is in the correct format.
So at that point, I'm 75% confident that it's his private key.

So either OP's grandpa got scammed, or he played one hell of a joke even after his death.

Or his granpa used a bugged wallet that produced that private key
IIRC, there was a old wallet that had an issue that made it generate that private key pretty consistently, but I can't remember where I read that.

Or this is just another one of the "usual" can't recover old bitcoin topic.

[DaveF]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=888954.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5508822

This has been going on for more then 10 years.

If a new user posts an address search for it 1st before replying. Most of them are just trying to get funds from some key that they 'found' that are known to be scams / puzzles / other time wasting things.

-Dave