Bitcoin address - wallet restoration

[Cryptflower]

Hi, I need some advice on how I could get my Bitcoin address back.

I have an old Bitcoin address created in 2014 with 0.00127 Bitcoin on it, I would like to get this Bitcoin back.

The Bitcoin address probably is a blockchain.com address, but I don't know for sure. How could I find out if that address is a blockchain.com address? If it's even important in this case.

I have an old blockchain.com wallet, in 2018 I saved the 12 secret words for it.

I logged in to blockchain.com in 2024 and I saw my Bitcoin address with the Bitcoin amount, but I couldn't use it because it wasn't in a wallet.

I needed validate my blockchain.com account, after I did that, I got a new wallet (probably a DeFi wallet?) and I didn't see the address anymore.

Should I restore my old wallet to solve this problem?

Can I only restore my old wallet at blockchain.com or could I restore it at another provider?

Thank You for your answer in advance!

[LoyceV]

How could I find out if that address is a blockchain.com address?

The only way to be sure, is to find that address in your account. But it looks like you already found it there.

I logged in to blockchain.com in 2024 and I saw my Bitcoin address with the Bitcoin amount, but I couldn't use it because it wasn't in a wallet.

I needed validate my blockchain.com account, after I did that, I got a new wallet (probably a DeFi wallet?) and I didn't see the address anymore.

That blockchain.info/.com webwallet is an endless source of problems. This is what I have collected on them:

• Blockchain.info: To recover an old legacy Blockchain.info wallet, read this topic and go here.
• Blockchain.info: In some cases, Blockchain.info (now .com) shows a compressed private key while the address was uncompressed. Read this topic.

My guess is it could have to do with the last option in this list.

[notocactus]

Hi, I need some advice on how I could get my Bitcoin address back.

What you have is your Bitcoin wallet, and what you need is recover your wallet to access your bitcoin.

There is nothing if you have your Bitcoin address, as you only can check it balance with Bitcoin block explorers, or import that address to have a Watch-only wallet that is unspendable.

I have an old blockchain.com wallet, in 2018 I saved the 12 secret words for it.

You have wallet seed words, so you can import it to Electrum wallet, choose BIP39.

• In this thread, there are steps for import it to Electrum. [Guide] Use CPFP if your stucked transactions from blockchain.com wallet

Use Electrum wallet safely.

• [GUIDE] How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum [Guide]
• The paranoid user's security guide for using Electrum safely.

[Findingnemo]

I have an old blockchain.com wallet, in 2018 I saved the 12 secret words for it.

I logged in to blockchain.com in 2024 and I saw my Bitcoin address with the Bitcoin amount, but I couldn't use it because it wasn't in a wallet.

The blockchain.com wallet always gives weird and unresolved bugs. Did you try the forgot password wallet option?

And you said you saw the address and balance then why you said it wasn't in a wallet? You mean kind of watch only wallet?

[Cryptflower]

Thank You All for your answers.

I logged in to my Blockchain account and I found the old address with the Bitcoin in it.

There is a description that says:

"Imported Bitcoin addresses

Imported funds are not protected by your Recovery Phrase. To ensure these funds are secured, please transfer them directly into your wallet.

'Verify Message'  (button)"


"Address  12D....
Balance 0,00127 BTC

'Actions'
Manage  (menu)

• Archive
• Private Key
• Sign Message
• Send

"

What does this mean - what would happen if I pressed 'Verify Message' button?

I'm a little anxious, because earlier when I tried to use the Bitcoin in my Blockchain account a popup appeared and asked me to tap it to transfer the Bitcoin to the wallet from my address, unfortunately I did tap it and I regretted this action immediately, because I lost more than 10 $ by tapping it.

What should I do, which 'Action' could I choose that would maximize the amount of Bitcoin I can use?

If I choose the 'Send' option I can send the full amount of Bitcoin (minus the transaction fee) to an another Bitcoin address?

Thank You for your answer in advance!

[LoyceV]

What does this mean - what would happen if I pressed 'Verify Message' button?

It'll probably ask you for a message to verify.

I'm a little anxious, because earlier when I tried to use the Bitcoin in my Blockchain account a popup appeared and asked me to tap it to transfer the Bitcoin to the wallet from my address, unfortunately I did tap it and I regretted this action immediately, because I lost more than 10 $ by tapping it.

It sounds like a transaction fee. That's normal, but customizable.

What should I do, which 'Action' could I choose that would maximize the amount of Bitcoin I can use?

I'd export the private key, use Electrum, and manually set the fee.

If I choose the 'Send' option I can send the full amount of Bitcoin (minus the transaction fee) to an another Bitcoin address?

Probably. But you're using a wallet that isn't recommended and is the source of many topics here about problems it causes. So it's better to never use them again and export your keys.

[nc50lc]

'Actions'
Manage  (menu)

• Archive
• Private Key
• Sign Message
• Send

I second the import Private Key method mentioned by LoyceV. (the wallet is online so make sure that your machine is totally secured)

But to be honest, I'm particularly curious if they've already fixed the issue of displaying the compressed WIF format of old imported uncompressed WIF which leads to address mismatch when importing to other wallet.

The steps:

• Export the private key WIF via "Private Key" option.
• Verify and Install Electrum: electrum.org/#download | bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download
• During wallet creation, select "Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys" and paste your private key.
• Finish creating the wallet, wait for it to sync and send using that wallet with the fee slider set to your preferred sat/vB fee.

Now, if it shows a WIF (Wallet Import Format) private key that starts with "K" or "L" and it didn't restored the correct address after import (View->Show Addresses), the issue is still there.
If that happens, use this method to encode the private key to the correct format: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5517924.msg64733265#msg64733265

[nc50lc]

You can also import your 12 recovery words into other wallets that support the BIP39 standard, such as Electrum, Exodus, or BlueWallet, to see if your balance appears there.

The private key in question is "imported" so, even if he restore that 12-word (BIP39) recovery phrase to other clients, the imported private key will not be recovered alongside with it.
Read OP's last reply since it has a quote containing an important note regarding that:

"Imported funds are not protected by your Recovery Phrase. To ensure these funds are secured, please transfer them directly into your wallet."

Anyways, it could restore the wallet containing the imported key when restored in their own website/app
Because they can link an existing WalletID and wallet.aes.json file if "something" from the restored recovery phrase matched. (not that the 12-words can actually restore it)
But that's not what OP needs since he already have found it under his imported private keys list.
The current outstanding issue is how to spend it as cheap as possible.

[mcdouglasx]

If I choose the 'Send' option I can send the full amount of Bitcoin (minus the transaction fee) to an another Bitcoin address?

Thank You for your answer in advance!

Since you only want to minimize costs, send from Blockchain directly to the buyer's address and choose the cheapest fee advertised on https://mempool.space/ if possible, or choose the slow transaction (cheaper) if you want to spend them. If you want to keep them, create a wallet in Electrum; by default, they are SegWit (bc1), and since SegWit transactions are smaller and more efficient, they are cheaper in terms of fees.

Or, as mentioned above, export the private key into Electrum and customize your fees(Verify that it is not lower than the recommended one to avoid getting stuck in the mempool).